The Three Demons: Trial
by Kioko the pirate
Summary: The first story in my main series to have a series title! A mysterious figure hires a dangerous bounty hunter to capture Angel and to destroy the rest of the Pelekai family! Are they strong enough to survive? Later chapters will contain blood.
1. The Deal

The Three Demons: Trial

By: Kioko the pirate

Chapter 1: The Deal

In the pitch-black darkness of the Koriganian night, when no star could be seen in the sky, one bright beacon stood out. The countless lights of the Royal City made the city shine like a sun when seen from a distance. Even from space the lights of the city peaked through the dense atmosphere like a candle in a thick fog. Within the city's limits the lights lit up the never-ending streets and walkways as if it were daytime. The dim glow of holographic billboards that floated lazily overhead cast constantly changing colors down upon the raging rivers of people walking below. While the blaring sound of speeding hovercraft mixed with the murmur of voices and the montage of alien music gave the brilliant city a voice like no other.

Just as unique and diverse as the sounds and colors of the city were the hundreds of species that made up the cities populace. Ranging in size from only a couple feet tall to giants the size of two story buildings and varying in shape from shapeless blobs to humanoid shaped beings these people bustled about like on any Earth city. Like mindless drone they went about on their own agenda's, seemingly unaware of those around them. In a place where different species mixed so roughly this was often a good thing. In the intergalactic community getting involved in someone else's affairs could be deadly. It was for this reason that no one said anything as a man rudely pushed his way through the streams of people. He was of average height, about six feet and four inches tall and firmly built.

He had narrow, crystal-blue eyes that off set the menace in his half cocked smirk. He looked mostly Koriganian but instead of hair stiff, yellow spikes covered the top of his head and green scales covered his temples and the sides of his neck. He was dressed in an old, tattered brown jumpsuit with orange pads on the shoulders, elbows and knees. Multiple pockets sat on the front of the suit and on his legs, while a metal and leather utility belt was wrapped around his waist. His forearms were also adorned with metal gauntlets that had glowing, blue strips of light running around the knuckles and wrist. Finally, a large broad sword sat idly on his back; the lights of the city flashing over its emerald green sheath and the intricate, golden vines that adorned it. The vines spiraled up its length, twisting into sharp shapes like the thorns of a rose bush, before ending in a spiral pattern at the top of the sheath. The grip was just as elegant, with a black ivory handle topped off with a small skull with a small green jewel on its forehead.

The man walked with smooth, purposeful steps as he made his way through the endless crowd. He slowly descended through the numerous layers of raised platforms that wrapped around massive buildings and snaked through the entire city. He seemed to be off in his own world as he slowly walked across a larger platform that sat between four buildings. A dozen or so vendors lined the platforms outer edge, chanting and yelling as they advertised their goods. No matter what time it was the cities energy never subsided. In the middle of the night children still chased after one another. Laughing and giggling, they ran circles around the man before disappearing back into the sea of people.

It was the same everywhere he went. That is, until he reached the ground level of the city. A shocking transformation took place before him. The bustling streets filled with life quickly emptied of all signs of life. Only piles of trash, scraps of metal, and the occasional, small pile of excrement lent any clue to the existence of life. The bright lights of the city seemed to disappear as well; only a few dim lights hanging from the walls of buildings illuminated the silent streets. It was like this throughout the city. As giant buildings soared upward toward the sky, taking with them the life of the city, the lowest levels fell into decay. The ground upon which the magnificent city had been built became like a basement, largely forgotten in the minds of residents unless a problem arose. There were some areas of the city where the ground level was in much better repair and seemed much more livable. But this was not one of those areas.

As a matter of fact, the man was walking into one of the roughest parts of the city. The 180th district to be exact. District 180 was one of five districts that made up the area known to the people as "Shenzo". Pirates, thieves, drug dealers, gangsters, bounty hunters, rapists, and every other form of scum in the universe, right down to the lowliest pickpocket, almost exclusively populated Shenzo. Only the bravest and stupidest of people dared walk the streets and walkways of this area. Even the royal police and military stayed clear of the area, which just made it all the more appealing to criminals. But despite the dangers the man kept a casual pace as he ventured deeper into the area. Slowly, the sounds of disorder began to fill the air. The roar of blasters and the screams of men echoed in the distance and in all directions. It was a sound that would make even the most hardened soul cringe and yet the man went unfazed by it. He almost seemed to enjoy it, looking around with a smirk on his face as if he had finally come home.

The man finally turned off of the streets and headed down a long alleyway that, like the rest of the area, was lined with mounds of garbage. The alley ended in a steep staircase that led underneath a building and more resembled a cave with water dripping from the ceiling, dampening the walls and stairs. As the man descended down the stairs a cycloptic man, dressed in no more than rags, ran up to him and extended his three-fingered hands like a cup to him.

"Please, sir, can you spare a few credits for a ragged old man?" begged the cyclopes in a shaky and withered voice.

The man sneered. "Out of my way, worm." With a violent shove, the one eyed man went tumbling down the stairs. Then, as if nothing had happened, the man casually strolled by the cyclop's lifeless body at the bottom of the stairs.

The swordsman made his way down another long alleyway. A small stream of sewage ran down the middle of the alley, illuminated by a few holographic signs advertising dancing girls and a hole in the wall pub. The man glanced up at the dancing girl sign, paused in front of the door, and then checked his pockets. Seeing that he had no form of currency at all he continued on with a disappointed sigh. A few minutes later he was back in the dark, once again pausing as he looked around confusedly. He was standing in the middle of an intersection between four different streets. Even though all four streets looked and… smelled the same he appeared to be looking for a specific detail. After a moment of vocally arguing with himself, he chose the street running to his right and regained his stride as he headed off.

Another series of streets and alley's passed him by until finally he came to a stop. He was in the middle of an artificial valley, formed by the sloping sides of two buildings. Suspicious as to why he had been told to come to such an open area, the man carefully looked around. Rusted, metal crates sat piled randomly along the edge of the valley and a set of rotted wires stretched, a few feet overhead, from one building to the other. His eyes continued to dart in every direction, searching for signs of life, but none could be found. The man whipped around to check out the street behind him, he found no one, but as he turned back around a mysterious figure suddenly appeared in the middle of the metal valley. The man quickly widened his stance, not knowing what the shadowy figure's intentions were.

For a few moments the figure just stood there silently, not moving at all. The hair on the back of the man's neck stood on end as the air seemed to become electrified. A large stone settled in his stomach as an unbelievable sense of dread began to fill him.

"You are Tokajo Gira?" the figure suddenly asked.

Its voice was smooth, confident, and strong but madness could clearly be heard, lurking underneath. "What's it to ya?" snapped Tokajo, the stone in his stomach was rapidly growing. Out of instinct, the man reached over his shoulder and grabbed his sword. But as he began to lift the blade from its sheath an icy hand suddenly clasped his own and forced the weapon back down.

"You won't be needing that." came the same, smooth voice, this time from behind.

Tokajo suddenly realized that the figure was no longer in front of him and with a shaky glance back over his shoulder found it standing right behind him. He could now see that the figure was a man, slightly taller than he, dressed in a baggy, black cloak. Most of his face was hidden by shadow and only his chin and mouth were visible. His skin was pale white, giving his exposed, right hand a ghostly glow even in the dim light.

"You don't draw a weapon on your employer after all." said the man as he released Tokajo's hand.

"You're… you're the guy that contacted me?" asked the swordsman as he began to turn around. But he found no one.

"That is correct." said the cloaked man's voice.

Tokajo whipped around and found the shadowy figure now standing back in the middle of the valley, as if he had never left the spot to begin with. "Heh, that's a nice trick," blurted Tokajo in a sarcastic tone. The fear in him was slowly receding, "well then what is it you want me to do?"  
"So direct, you aren't very patient are you?" chuckled the mysterious figure.

"No, I'm not. This society wastes enough of my time already, I don't need formalities eating up anymore of it."

"Bitter too," chuckled the man once more, "Though I suppose such an attitude would be expected of some one whose entire existence is against the unwritten rules of the world." Tokajo just sneered. "What is it like to be a half-breed, to be a walking taboo?" asked the cloaked man with a psychotic, toothy grin on his face.

"It would be fine without people like you around," snapped Tokajo, taking a threatening step forward, "I get sick and tired of people looking at me like I'm some filthy animal! Now if insulting me was your only reason for summoning me here I…"

"I assure you that my reasons for summoning you are purely professional. My intentions were not to mock you, as a matter of fact you being a half-breed just made you all the more better choice for the task." explained the man with a fake sympathetic tone.

The swordsman gave an unconvinced huff and folded his arms over his chest. "How does me being a half-breed suit any sort of task?"

The man gave another short chuckle. "It doesn't so much aid in the task as add a… poetic twist to it."

"Poetic twist? What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that your life is taboo and so are the lives of your targets. There's poetry in one taboo life destroying the life of another life just like it. You attack them even though you know how they feel and in the process become the same kind of person you yourself despise." said the figure with a twinge of excitement in his voice.

Tokajo stared at the man for a few moments. He was beginning to doubt the sanity of the man and whether or not there was any reason at all for him coming. "You've wasted enough of my time. If you're not going to tell me anything about the job then I'm leaving."

With that, Tokajo turned and began to walk away, but as he did the mysterious man let out a long, deep laugh and then said: "The task at hand involves none other than Kioko, 'The Demon Pirate'."

The swordsman stopped dead in his tracks as his eyes widened and his mouth fell open. "I knew that name would catch the interest of a bounty hunter like yourself." said the man slyly.

Tokajo whipped around and found the man standing an arms length away. "How does it involve Kioko?"

The man gave another toothy grin. "He is involved because he is a close acquaintance of these people." The man reached his hand into his left sleeve and withdrew a small piece of paper. He raised the paper in front of the bounty hunter revealing a photograph. It contained the images of a large, four-eyed qwelta-qwuanian, a noodly, one-eyed plorganarian, two small, furry creatures, one pink and one blue, three more smaller, furry creatures of similar color in front of them, and then two female beings. All of them were standing in front of a series of tall brown plants with flat, green tops and were apparently near a blue ocean. Tokajo grabbed the photo from the man's hand and studied it closer. His focus fell on the two, fairly attractive, females and a confused look came over his face.

"What species are these two?" asked the bounty hunter as he pointed to the two females.

"They are humans. Surely you must have heard of their race?"

"Those are humans?" exclaimed Tokajo, "I've heard of them, yeah, but they don't look anything like I pictured them. I mean, when I heard about how low tech their species was I pictured them being drooling, hunchbacked, mindless creatures."

"You got the 'mindless' part right at least," blurted the man, "They are hopelessly simple minded creatures."

"So are these people my targets or something?"

"They are your secondary targets."

"Secondary targets?"

"Yes, your main objective is to capture this creature," said the man as he pointed a long finger at the strange pink creature that had two long antenna on it's head, "Once you capture it you will bring it back to me alive. Everyone else in that photograph is to be eliminated."

"Ok, but first, what exactly is that thing I'm catching… and when does Kioko come into play in this?"

"Your target and the blue creature next to it are both illegally produced genetic mutations. Created by the qwelta-qwuanian in the photo," explained the man, "I'm sure you've heard of him, his name is Jumba Jukiba."

Once again Tokajo's eyes widened as he looked to the man. "That's Jumba? Then those must be his…?"

"Experiments, correct. The pink creature, your target, is experiment 6-2-4, a siren-like experiment with the ability to bring out the evil in one's heart or seal it away. The blue experiment next to her… is experiment 6-2-6."

"You're kidding," blurted Tokajo, "That's 6-2-6, the monster that had the Federation all worried? It looks more like a child's house pet than a galactic terror."

"Oddly enough, that's what he's been for several years now. The youngest human female in that picture keeps him like a pet." smirked the man.

The bounty hunter let out a small chuckle. "Heh, a 'vicious' beast tamed by a measly human. Just goes to show how whinny and pathetic the Federation is. To get so worked up over such a tiny creature… it's embarrassing almost."

"Yes, but don't go and underestimate him. Despite his size he does have considerable power. In fact, it would be wise to not underestimate any of them."

"Even the human's?" asked Tokajo with a small laugh.

"Especially not the humans," replied the man, in probably what was his most serious tone so far, "While they're not developed enough to pose an immediate threat, their actions can be spontaneous, unpredictable, and illogical." The man once again reached deep into his left sleeve. "That is why I' am giving you this," the man then pulled out a small blue ball and handed it to Tokajo.

"What the hell is this thing?" asked the swordsmen as he looked at the numbers '6-2-7' printed on the side of the orb.

"That is Jumba's most recent creation, an enhanced version of 6-2-6 with a few changes of my own. He will act as your accomplice."

"Whoa, uh uhh! I don't work with others. I do my jobs solo and no other way." shouted Tokajo angrily.

"The only reason why I am giving you this experiment is to better ensure the success of this mission!" snapped the man with a snake like hiss as his right hand shot up and wrapped itself around Tokajo's throat. With very little difficulty, the man lifted the now frightened bounty hunter off his feet and into the air. "I need this mission to succeed, do you understand? If you fail me I will not hesitate to kill you!"

With that the man's anger seemed to vanish. He lowered Tokajo back down to the ground and then took a step back. "I apologize for that outburst. I' am trying to keep my anger in check these days, but it sometimes gets away from me."

"No… kidding." coughed Tokajo as he held his throat.

"However, I cannot stress enough how important it is that this mission succeed."

"Why? What's so special about this experiment 6-2-4 that you'd go through all this trouble?"

The man gave a toothy grin that practically stretched across his entire face and another psychotic chuckle escaped him. "What makes 6-2-4 so special… is that she is Kioko's weakness," Tokajo's attention was once again ensnared, "Out of all those people in that picture, she holds a truly unique connection to the demon himself. And so by capturing her, I will have captured a piece of Kioko, and thus be one step closer to having my revenge on him." explained the man, barely containing the twisted excitement in his voice.

"Now wait a minute," blurted the swordsmen, "If I managed to bring in Kioko, I'd be set for the rest of my life. I'd be able to stop living in my cramped ship and I'd be able to afford good food and… other essentials," said the man as he mind drifted back to the dancing girls, "So I want a go at him myself, got it?"

The man gave another small chuckle. "Very well then, if you capture 6-2-4, Kioko will most certainly try to rescue her. When he comes, I'll give you the first go at him."

Tokajo was silent for a moment, as he looked the mysterious man up and down. "Ok then," he finally said, "There's just one more detail that needs to be covered before I go and catch your experiment. I don't work for free after all."

"Of course," replied the man as he once again reached into his sleeve. A moment later he pulled out two small cards, each had a series of sharp twisting symbols on them, "500,000 credits now and 500,000 when the job is complete. Not to mention the large sum that could come if you catch Kioko." said the man as he handed the cards over to Tokajo.

The bounty hunter took the cards, looked at them closely and then tucked them into one of the pockets on his chest. "Congratulations, you got yourself a bounty hunter. I'll have that experiment to you in no time." said Tokajo with an arrogant smirk before turning and walking away casually.

"I hope so… for your sake." The man said quietly to himself as he watched the bounty hunter turn the corner.

**There it is, the first chapter of the newest Demon series! And yes "The Three Demons" is the newly appointed title of this series. Well at least for the stories after this point. While the prior stories had a usually lighthearted feeling behind them, these stories will have a much darker and more mature feel. Not to say there won't be humor though. Anyway, Let me know what you think about the title and please review.**


	2. Lilo's New Obsession

The Three Demons: Trial

By: Kioko the pirate

Chapter 2: Lilo's New Obsession

It was early morning on the island of Kauai, rainstorms from the night before had left the beautiful island damp and soft. A few grey clouds still lingered in the sky as if they had no idea where to go. The entire island was quiet, only a few birds called out into the soft mist that blanketed the land. At the Pelekai house it was just the same, quiet. Only Nani and Jumba were up and about, both down in the kitchen. Nani was lazily preparing breakfast while Jumba sat at the table reading the morning paper and drinking a cup of coffee. Neither of them spoke a word for quite some time, possibly trying to savor one of the few times of the day where people weren't screaming or running around.

But finally, as Nani carried over two plates of eggs and toast and sat down, she decided to finally say something. "So, anything interesting in the news?" she asked as she sipped her own coffee.

"Nah," replied Jumba with a disappointed tone, "is just same as always. Fossil fuel prices are going up while American Earth currency is going down."

"Lovely, at this rate I'm going to need to take out a second mortgage just to pay for a fill up." sighed the older Hawaiian as she rubbed her temple with two fingers.

"Is reminding me of Turinium shortage back on home planet."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes, was big problem, especially for young evil genius. Do you know how hard it was to be building doomsday device with fuel cell costs at same level as hyper drive particle replicaters?" asked the large alien as he laid the paper down on the table.

Nani just stared blankly at the man for a few moments. "I can't say that I do." replied Nani as she took another sip of coffee.

"Well let me telling you that it was tough. I had to be scrapping doomsday device and move on to giant laser beams. Which is just taking big step backwards for evil geniuses." said Jumba as he waved one of his giant fingers.

Regretting her decision to start a conversation, Nani took a big bite of toast and casually looked away. Jumba however, did not pick up on this and continued to ramble on about the prices of materials that Nani had never even heard of and a few she couldn't even pronounce. After about half an hour the sound of clicking nails caught both of their attentions. They turned toward the stairs to find Stitch and Angel practically floating into the kitchen. Both of them had dumb looks on their faces as they made their way over to the refrigerator. They were cuddling as they searched for something to eat.

"At it again were you?" asked Nani finding their expressions all too familiar.

Angel looked back over her shoulder at Nani. "That's our business, thank you." Angel said with her, all too pleased smile still on her face.

"I swear you two are like rabbits." said Nani as she went back to eating her breakfast.

"Hey… what do you… expect us to do… when we can't sleep." blurted Stitch through a mouthful of the previous nights leftover pot roast.

Angel just stared at Stitch, who had a small piece of meat sticking out from his lips, shook her head and then walked away, leaving Stitch with a confused look on his face. "I was not to be getting many sleepy winks either," said Jumba after finishing his coffee, "little girls experiments keep getting louder and louder."

Nani gave a frustrated grunt. "Three months, it's been nothing but Alchemy this, Alchemy that. It's even worse than when she discovered hula."

"Usually, I would be supporting younger girl. But when she is making all sorts of ruckus in middle of night… evil genius support goes right down the pooper."

"You can't blame her for wanting to do something that could potentially benefit the family." said Angel as she pulled herself up onto a chair.

"I'm not angry at her or anything, I mean she's doing something that I only thought of as a myth in a history book, it's amazing. I just wish she would take the other people in this house into consideration," Nani said as she finished off her last piece of toast, "Like the kids for example, they need their rest and if she keeps making noises all night…"

"Oh don't worry about them, Nani," chuckled Stitch as he climbed up onto the chair next to Angel, "They've grown into very heavy sleepers. Lilo could be doing whatever she does in her room in their room and they wouldn't wake up."

"That's another thing though," shouted Nani, "since the day Kioko left she's had that room locked tighter than Fort Knox. I mean for all we know she's up there conjuring up crack!"

"I doubt Lilo is making drugs." laughed Angel.

"How do you know, have you been in her room, huh?" asked Nani sharply as she slowly became panicked.

"It would be ridiculous to even imagine that she would do that," replied Stitch, "We all know Lilo too well to know she wouldn't turn druggy on us."

"Oh yeah, what about that time we caught her with that little bag of marijuana?"

"It was oregano." blurted Angel.

"Oh yeah sure. Why would she just be carrying a bag of oregano with her, eh?"

"Little girl was taking cooking class in school."

"But she…" started Nani before Stitch crawled up on the table, walked over to her and placed a paw on the top of her head.

"Nani, I think you need to go back to bed." smiled Stitch with a soft and caring voice.

The older Hawaiian girl was silent for a moment as she stared up into the experiment big black eyes. It appeared that she had calmed down, but suddenly she said: "I think you need to get off the kitchen table with your nasty alien toes before I throw you."

Knowing full well that the older girl would indeed throw him, Stitch quickly withdrew his paw, scampered back over to his chair, sat down and folded his paws over his lap. "You don't even listen to me that well." scolded Angel as she glared at her mate.

"Shhh, she can hear you." whispered Stitch as he placed one index finger to his lips.

"I give up." sighed Angel as she dropped her head.

"I am thinking that 6-2-6 is having right idea. Perhaps older girl should get more rest." said Jumba, feeling confident that his size would deter any throwing threat. Thankfully, for all of them, Nani hadn't lost all of her reasonability yet and she agreed.

After a few last grumbles the older girl left the room and headed off to bed. A feeling of relief immediately settled in the room, allowing everyone to breathe easily again. "Maybe you should go check on, Lilo though." said Angel in the motherly tone she had grown so used to using on the children to get them to do things.

Stitch wasted no time in falling into the roll as the child. "What, why do I have to go check on her?" whined the blue experiment.

"You've known her longer than I have." said Angel.

"But you're a girl just like her, you should go. I'd hate to walk in on her if she's changing or something."

"I doubt she's changing."

"Still, why risk it?"

"Stitch, go." commanded Angel as she pointed her finger at the stairs.

"But what if I walk in and I get mutated or I get turned into a vase? I don't wanna be pottery!"

"Go, Stitch!" yelled Angel as she reached over and pushed Stitch off his chair.

"Alright, alright… I'll go," said Stitch as he got up off the floor, "Why's everyone got to be so rough with me? Just because I'm indestructible doesn't mean I don't bruise." mumbled Stitch under his breathe as he left the room.

Reluctantly, Stitch started up the stairs toward Lilo's room. As he went he continued to hear zapping and whirring sounds coming from his friends room. They were sounds that made his fur stand on end and a chill go down his spine. As he reached the top of the stairs and headed down the hallway, he could see lights flashing out from under Lilo's door. Terrible images began to flash in his head. He saw himself get horribly deformed by some strange force, electricity scorching him to a crisp, or worst of all, his body being molded into a bathtub! He was now standing in front of Lilo's door, the menacing sounds had stopped as well as the flashing lights. He raised his paw to knock on her door, but suddenly froze; he was petrified with fear. But as the images of his horrible future blew through his mind a thought occurred to him: Why should he be scared? Lilo wouldn't let anything bad happen to him and she would never intentionally do anything. He was perfectly safe… he hoped.

With his fear pushed back Stitch managed to rap his tiny blue knuckles against Lilo's door. There was no response from the other side. Stitch once again knocked on the door, this time a little harder, still no response. His curiosity now getting the better of him, Stitch slowly reached up and turned the doorknob. With a small creak the door opened just like in an old horror movie. Hesitantly, Stitch slowly walked into the room and started looking around for his friend. At first he could see no one, then suddenly, he could see nothing at all as a brilliant light erupted around him. He quickly raised his arms over his eyes to try and block out the blinding light, but it was no use, it seemed to come from everywhere at once. Just then, a strange sensation began to overtake his body. It felt as though something was picking at every inch of his body, the picking slowly grew into a painful tugging. He was being torn apart!

A wave of panic rushed through him causing him to yell out in terror. Suddenly, the light vanished along with the tugging; it was like someone had thrown a switch.

"Stitch?" the little blue experiment suddenly heard Lilo's voice, "Stitch is that you?"

Stitch lowered his arms and looked to his left. It took his eyes a moment to adjust from the light, but he soon managed to make out the shape of his friend. She was kneeling on the floor a few feet away. He saw her raise an arm up to her face and as his sight became more defined he realized that she was blindfolded and had large headphones over her ears. The girl took off the headphones and untied the blindfold, letting it fall into her lap.

"Stitch, what the hell do you think you're doing?" shouted Lilo angrily.

"What am I doing? What are you doing?" Stitch shouted back.

"I was trying to transmute that block of lead!" Lilo pointed a finger toward the center of the room.

Stitch followed her finger and found a large grey lump of lead in the middle of the room. The lead was stretched into a shape that could only be described as a crude attempt at a horse. Then, it hit him; Stitch quickly looked around him and found that he was standing in the middle of a large array of circles, triangles and strange characters.

"You were about to transmute me!" yelled Stitch.

"Well it's your fault for just barging in like that!"

"My fault? If you hadn't been wearing that stuff on your head maybe you would have seen or heard me!"

"I needed this stuff! Lead is a very tricky element to work with. I needed a lot more concentration to work with it so I cut out any unnecessary senses."

"You could have killed me!" barked Stitch.

"You're fine Stitch!"

"I don't think so. Something feels wrong now," said Stitch as he searched his body for any signs of damage, "I feel like something's missing."

"Yeah, your brain." mumbled Lilo to herself.

"What was that?" asked Stitch.

"Nothing." smiled Lilo as she got up and walked over to her desk by the window.

Stitch gave his friend one last dirty look before looking around her room. His jaw dropped as he saw her walls almost entirely covered by papers. All with various equations and transmutation circles sketched out on them. It was the same with the floor; piles of paper lined the room, the only bit of floor that was showing was the bit with the large transmutation circle drawn on it with chalk. At that moment Angel and Jumba appeared in the doorway.

"We heard screaming, what's going on?" asked Angel concernedly as she and Jumba walked in.

Immediately, both of their jaws dropped as they saw the state of Lilo's room. "What… what is all this?" asked Jumba as he took a piece of paper off the wall and looked at it closely.

"My work," said Lilo as she brushed a few papers off her desk, revealing the alchemy book that Kioko had given her, "what else would it be?"

Jumba continued to exam the paper; it was covered in rough sketches of transmutation circles, chemical formulas, and mathematical equations. "This is some pretty complex stuff, especially for little girl who could not understand simple earth math." said Jumba with a taunting tone.

Lilo just shot the large alien a dirty look. "To be honest, I'm surprised that I even begin to understand this stuff. But reading through this book," Lilo picked up the book and flipped it open, "everything just seemed to snap into place. Like I was born to be an alchemist."

"This is amazing, Lilo," blurted Angel as she knelt down beside the piece of lead, "I never would have imagined that you humans had the power to change nature."

"Neither would I if it hadn't been for this book." smiled Lilo as she sat down on her paper-covered bed.

"If it wasn't for that book I wouldn't have just had a near death experience." huffed Stitch as he sat down on the floor and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Oh stop it," shouted Lilo, "for the last time you're fine."

"You know your sister is worried about you," said Angel as she walked over and hopped up beside Lilo, "she doesn't like that you've been locking yourself in your room."

"Yes, older girl is thinking little girl is making oddly named earth drugs." said Jumba with a little bit of a chuckle.

Lilo just rolled her eyes. "Seriously though, how long has it been since you've been out of the house?" asked Angel.

"I guess it has been awhile. And I have had a craving for a Luki's snow cone." sighed Lilo as she looked up at her ceiling.

"Well there you go, go get yourself a nice snow cone and stretch your legs a little. Get some sun on those cheeks." smiled Angel as she pinched Lilo's cheek gently.

"Quit it," laughed Lilo, "can you not be a mother for once? I'm not one of your kids you know."

"Nope, can't do that. And when you finally have kids of your own, you'll understand. Now come on and get some breakfast." said Angel as she hopped off the bed and walked toward the door, grabbing Stitch by the paw on the way. "Come on, ham bone."

"Hey, this is uncalled for!" shouted Stitch as he was dragged on his butt out the door.

Jumba and Lilo both laughed as they followed the two experiments out of the room. Meanwhile, on the other side of the island, a rusted, beat up ship sat idly in the still waters of an ocean side cove. The ship was a dirty brown color and shaped like the letter "C" with a dome shaped bridge attached to the outer edge of the curve. Two double barreled guns sat on the top and bottom of the ship, slowly turning as they scanned for threats. Suddenly, a loud hissing sound filled the air as a ramp dropped down from the bottom of the ship. It splashed into the water with a metallic clank followed by a series of other strange sounds that seemed to come from nowhere.

After a moment Tokajo appeared in the doorway of the ship. The alien looked around with an unimpressed look before taking in a deep breathe of air. "Not bad, I could get used to a climate like this." said Tokajo as he took in the feeling of the damp, warm Hawaiian air. He then proceeded to walk down the walkway, but as he stepped out of the ship his foot caught on a bundle of wires that sat along the floor. With a startled yelp the bounty hunter tumbled down the ramp and landed head first in the water. Tokajo sprung up from the water, his jumpsuit now soaking wet, and began to yell out obscenities that would have sounded like gibberish to any human.

"God, I hate this piece of junk!" yelled Tokajo as he kicked the ramp. "I swear the moment I get paid I'm trading you in," Tokajo now began to pick up rocks from under the water and chucked them at his own ship, "You rusted, broken down, pain in the ass, eye sore!"

Tokajo now picked up a baseball sized rock and chucked it at the ship. The rock struck the side of the upper turret, suddenly alarms were blaring in side the ship and the turret spun around to face its assailant. "God dammit." sneered Tokajo as the barrels of the gun erupted with gunfire.

**Tokajo has arrived! And he's bound to make bigger trouble than Lilo's alchemy. I'm not too pleased with how this chapter came out. I blame my busy college schedule; it's hard to focus. I'll try to have the next chapter up sooner. Please review.**


	3. Encounter

The Three Demons: Trial

By: Kioko the pirate

Chapter 3: Encounter

It was now close to ten o' clock in the morning and most everyone was up and about. Everyone except the kids, who after a long night of playing, were still sound asleep. Unfortunately for them their mother thought that they had slept in long enough. Angel made her way upstairs and over to the kid's bedroom, she knocked hard on the door a few times but got no response.

"Come on, guys it's time to get up!" shouted Angel as she pressed her ears to the door. But again there was no response. "Don't make me come in there." she added. Finally, after a moment of just standing there listening for movement, Angel opened the door and walked in. She had to cover her mouth with her paw to keep from laughing as she found all the kids sleeping in odd positions. Kina was asleep on top of his pillow with his butt high in the air, Ashley had buried herself under the covers at the foot of the bed, and Oki was hanging upside down off the side of the bed with drool running from his mouth down into a pool that had formed below him. "Like father like son." sighed Angel.

Angel walked over to the lump of blankets that concealed Ashley and gave it a quick, gentle shake. The lump suddenly sprung to life with a tired moan and what could have only been a stretch.

"Come on now, time to get up." said Angel as she made her way to other side of the room where her sons slept. The boys slept in a bunk bed; Kina was on top while Oki was on the bottom. Angel lifted Oki back onto his bed, waking him up at the same time; she then crawled up the ladder to the top bunk and like Ashley shook Kina gently. The two boys stirred awake just the same way Ashley did, with a tired moan and a stretch. Though Oki did have a bit of a coughing fit as all his saliva suddenly went down his throat. "You guys better be well rested, you've got work to do today. Nani wants you and your father to clean up the backyard." Angel said as she walked over to the window.

"Aww, Mom do we have to?" moaned Ashley as she crawled out from under the covers.

"You know Nani's wanted that yard cleaned for weeks now. Unfortunately for you, I finally talked your father into doing it today so you're doing it."

"But I don't want to." complained Oki.

"You don't have a choice," said Angel as she lifted the blinds on the window. Light poured into the room and made the children cringe like vampires on a sunny day. "So come on, rise and shine."

The pink experiment just couldn't resist giggling at her children as they practically fell from their beds, their eyes still closed tightly. After a moment she managed to get herself under control, she then turned back toward the window and peered down into the driveway. At that moment Lilo and Stitch appeared from the front door and made their way down the front steps. As Angel watched the two friends walk off down the driveway a strange sensation filled her body. It was as if time ceased having any meaning, reality and fantasy became a blurred mass of thoughts, and in that moment her world seemed so small. A part of her found this odd feeling very enjoyable, it felt like she didn't have a care in the world. But deep down, the feeling made her uneasy, even a little bit frightened.

But why, what was there to be scared of? Angel closed her eyes and clenched her fists, trying to will away these feelings, these fears. Fears that seemed to come from nowhere without any reason or cause, they were an annoyance that never disappeared for long. She struggled to figure out where they came from, to mostly no avail. But on this occasion she knew exactly where they came from. Her little world, without a care, was incomplete. Angel opened her eyes and unclenched her fists, she looked back out the window, Lilo and Stitch were out of sight.

'Three months… it's only been three months and yet it seems like an eternity,' thought Angel sadly as her gaze drifted out over the island, 'how pathetic am I? I feel like one of those corny damsels who watch their hero go off to war and swoon over the idea of them until they return. This isn't right… I feel so filthy. Why can't I stop thinking about him, I feel like I'm cheating on Stitch.'

'I can't seem to help it either. I see his face every time I close my eyes,' suddenly, a small pain shot through Angel's heart causing her to wince and grasp her chest, 'and that's all it takes to cause this pain. Kioko, if only you knew how hard it's been these past few months to keep this damned curse in line, I don't want to think about how hard it's going to be to keep it up for another nine months.' Angel lowered her paw away from her chest and dropped it back down to her side. She then looked up toward the bright blue sky. 'I wish time would move faster.'

Back across the island the sound of blaster fire had ceased. The ocean side cove was once again as tranquil as it had ever been. However, Tokajo was too ticked off to enjoy the scenery. He was now sitting atop the mangled remains of the laser turret that had fired on him, a flask of alien spirits open in his hand. The bounty hunter gave an irritated sigh as he reclined back on the twisted metal and took a swig from the flask.

"This mission is going to end up costing me more than what it'll pay. Well… maybe not," Tokajo smirked as he raised the flask toward the sky, "If Kioko does come to save this little experiment thing, I could buy what ever I want and still have plenty left over for retirement." the bounty hunter laughed excitedly as he sat back.

The man took another drink before closing the flask and tucking it away in his jumpsuit. "But that'll never happen if I just sit around here all day, I best be getting started. Shouldn't take me too long." said Tokajo as he leapt from the top of his ship down to a rock sticking out of the water a few yards away. Suddenly, he remembered the little blue pod that his employer had given him. The man cringed at the thought of having a partner, but his boss seemed dead set on using an experiment. So, not wanting to run the risk of having his pay docked, Tokajo dug the pod out from one of the containers on his belt and held it up to the light.

"What a pain in the ass," sighed Tokajo as he brought the pod down to eye level, "It's insulting to think that he wants me to use a partner for this mission. I've never needed one before, and I've taken on much tougher species than mere humans. Oh well, I suppose I could put up with it for one mission. Besides, if he gets on my nerves I can just kill him and say he died in battle."

With that Tokajo flicked the pod off into the water. Not a second later a large glowing, yellow orb began to rise up out of the water. The bounty hunter took a few cautious steps backward just before the orb exploded in a blinding light. Tokajo quickly lifted his arm up in front of his face to shield himself, but as quickly as it had appeared the light vanished. Tokajo lowered his arm and looked toward the water, just a few feet away from him now stood a red, cone-headed creature with black markings on its back and head. The creature just stood there, knee deep in water, just staring like it was in a trance. Its long, pointed ears blew gently in the breeze as the creature began to move. It raised its paws up in front of its face and slowly clenched and unclenched its fists over and over again. Suddenly, the experiment began to chuckle and then slowly began to laugh with a deep, maniacal laugh that sent a chill down Tokajo's spine.

"Why do I get the feeling this is going to get complicated?" asked Tokajo to himself as he rubbed the sides of his head.

The experiments laughter suddenly stopped and its ears shot straight up as the mans voice caught its attention. 6-2-7 suddenly whipped around and faced Tokajo with a toothy grin, causing the bounty hunter to go for his sword. The man soon found himself staring into the black eyes of the creature, his fingers wrapped tightly around the grip of his blade. For what seemed like a century the two aliens stood ready to pounce on one another until, finally, Tokajo spoke up.

"So you're the experiment numbered 6-2-7, eh?" the bounty hunter asked with an unimpressed tone. "Just another little fur ball."

"W-why h-have I b-been a-acti-activated?" asked the creature, its voice scratchy and weak. "A-and why c-can I sp-speak?"

The creatures voice killed whatever sense of intimidation it instilled in Tokajo and the bounty hunter released his weapon and stood up straight. "I hate answering questions," sneered the man as he crossed his arms over his chest, "You've been reactivated by request of my employer, as for why you can speak… I'd imagine it's because of the fact that my employer also made some changes to you. Well he said he made changes, but if he had I'd think he would have made you look a bit more frightening. I mean look at you, you're still just as… cuddly looking as 6-2-6."

6-2-7's eyes suddenly widened. "6-2-6?"

"Yeah, 6-2-6, the experiment who is apparently guarding our target."

"Target," 6-2-7's voice was now becoming clearer and more menacing, "What are you talking about?"

Tokajo gave an irritated sigh. "I told you I hated answering questions."

"Answer the question!" snapped 6-2-7, baring his jagged teeth.

"Fine, I guess I have to tell you anyway. I was hired to capture experiment 6-2-4 and eliminate all those around her, including 6-2-6. As part of the job I was required to take you in as an accomplice. You will be my backup for this mission."

A sinister grin appeared on 6-2-7's maw as he turned his head inland. A confused expression formed on Tokajo's face as the little experiment began to chuckle. "Do you understand the mission, experiment?" asked the bounty hunter.

The experiment continued to chuckle for a few moments before finally speaking. "I don't care about your mission, weakling. I don't care about capturing this experiment 6-2-4," 6-2-7's grin widened almost to his ears, "I finally have a chance to get back at 6-2-6! That is all that matters!"

Suddenly, the experiment shot off inland, running as fast as he could. Tokajo had to raise his arms up in front of him as he was splashed by the wave of water created by the creature. "Hey, get back here! If you don't help me I won't get paid… and I'm not a weakling!" shouted the swordsman as he ran off after the experiment.

The two aliens quickly disappeared into the dense Hawaiian forest. Even though 6-2-7 had got a head start it didn't take long for Tokajo to catch up. The bounty hunter weaved in and around trees as he watched the crimson experiment leap from branch to branch with ease. Fortunately, all of his years of running down wanted felons and pirates had made him an excellent chaser.

"Stop right now and get back here! If you think you're going to go out on your own and ruin this mission for me your crazy!" snapped Tokajo, but 6-2-7 did not respond. The experiment just continued to run with a crazed grin on its face. It quickly became obvious that the experiment was not going to listen to his orders; he had to force the creature to stop. "Very well then, if you won't stop," the bounty hunter raised his right arm up toward 6-2-7, "I'll make you stop!"

Suddenly, a chain tipped with a spike shot from the gauntlet on Tokajo's arm and headed straight for 6-2-7. The weapon seemed to have a mind of its own as it twisted and spiraled, homing in on its target. The evil experiment laughed as he watched the spike grow closer from out of the corner of his eye, and then, just as it was about to hit, 6-2-7 leapt up into the air. The spike smashed into the trunk of a tree, shattering it into a thousand pieces. 6-2-7 rolled over in mid air to face Tokajo, with his toothy grin still on his face.

"Idiot, don't think that your puny weapons can stop me! I'm unbeatable!" laughed 6-2-7 as he pointed his paw toward the bounty hunter.

Tokajo stopped dead in his tracks as a bolt of green plasma shot from the experiments paw. With his right arm still retracting his first attack, Tokajo quickly grabbed his sword with his left hand and unsheathed it. With expert precision he brought the blade down on the blast of plasma and sliced it in two. The two pieces of plasma slammed into the ground with explosive force, blinding the bounty hunter with a cloud of dust. But a single swipe of his blade dispersed the cloud and revealed 6-2-7 standing just a few yards in front of him. With the chain fully retracted Tokajo slowly switched his blade to his right hand and then assumed a fighting stance, his legs bent and the blade facing 6-2-7. The aliens once again found themselves facing off, but this time Tokajo was much more serious.

"I hope you know that right now you are keeping me from getting paid and that is something I will not tolerate." sneered Tokajo as he glared at the little experiment.

"And you should know that you are keeping me from my revenge. I don't care about your mission, who ever this 6-2-4 is might as well be dead. 6-2-6 is the only experiment I need concern myself with. So if you intend on continuing to keep me from him, I'll just have to destroy you!"

6-2-7 suddenly blasted two more shots of plasma from his paws. Tokajo quickly leapt high up into the air as the blast disintegrated the ground beneath him. "This creature's got some serious firepower." said the bounty hunter to himself as he stared down at the ground. Just then, 6-2-7 shot up from the cloud of dust left by his attack and quickly appeared in front of Tokajo.

"You haven't even begun to see what I can do." grinned the experiment as he cocked his fist back.

Tokajo quickly brought his sword forward as 6-2-7 threw his punch. The attack connected with the broad side of Tokajo's sword, sending the bounty hunter streaking toward the ground. The swordsman barely had time to right himself before he crashed to the ground in a storm of dust. With a groan the bounty hunter forced himself up to his feet, but no sooner had he done so than 6-2-7 landed in front of him. With one swift kick 6-2-7 sent Tokajo's sword flying from his hands and into a tree several yards away. The bounty hunter quickly went for one of his gauntlets, but the experiment grabbed hold of his arms.

"It's over," grinned 6-2-7 before taking a deep breath and blowing an icy wind straight into Tokajo's face. The bounty hunter was instantly frozen in a dense block of ice, "That should keep you out of my way," said 6-2-7 as he backed away from his defeated foe, "Now, where was I?"

The evil experiment stuck his nose up into the air and began sniffing in all directions. Within seconds the scent of one blue experiment caught his attention. With a burst of excitement 6-2-7 extended his four extra arms and his spikes. A second later, he was gone, running toward his prey all while laughing like some blood thirsty mad man. Meanwhile, in Kakaua town, Stitch and Lilo were just leaving the grocery store, their arms filled with grocery bags. The two of them were laughing as they always had when they were together. If one were to look past the obvious physical changes that had occurred over the years, they would find that Lilo and Stitch hadn't changed a bit. It wouldn't take much imagination to look at them walking down the streets of town and see their younger selves following the same route.

"So then I go to put some tooth paste on the brush, but I accidentally squeeze too hard and I end up squirting her right in the nose," joked Stitch as he and Lilo rounded a corner on to the main road in town, "Needless to say it now looks like she has a sundae on her face. I mention this and she takes a playful swing at my head, but she slips on the bath mat and falls flat on her patooki! I couldn't breath I was laughing so hard."

Lilo could hardly breath herself, but after a moment of muted laughs she managed to catch her breathe. "Oh… oh my god. Poor Angel, but at least her nose was smelling minty." giggled Lilo.

"Yeah." agreed Stitch with a big, goofy smile.

Their laughter finally subsides as they both try and catch their breaths. But as they continued to walk a thought manifested in Lilo's mind. She realized just how much time she had been spending locked up in her room, it had been probably a month since her and Stitch talked even this much. Instantly, a feeling of guilt appeared deep inside of her. She gave a quiet sigh as she glanced down at her furry, blue friend. She needed to apologize; there was no good reason for her to have isolated herself from the family like that.

"Stitch," blurted Lilo, her guilt seeping into her words, "I'm sorry that I haven't been spending as much time with you guys as I should have these past few months."

"What," the apology had caught him off guard, "why should you be apologizing? It's not like you were staying away from us because you didn't like us or something. You were working hard to learn that alchemy stuff."

"That's no excuse! It's not like I have to learn this by a certain time or anything. I could have spaced it out more, taken my time. I don't like that it's kept me away from all you guys. It's been so long since I played with the children or hung out with you, I can't help but feel bad."

"Lilo, you shouldn't feel bad," said Stitch with a soft tone and a smile to match, "I mean I did miss hanging around with you while you were up there, but it's understandable. The benefits of you learning this stuff far out weighs any down side."

"I don't know, I still feel like I wasn't spending enough time with you guys."

"Well, like you said, it's not like you've got a time table to follow. Just slow down a little bit, take your time. You don't want your brain to explode from all that knowledge do ya?" laughed Stitch as he and Lilo made yet another turn.

Lilo gave a quick laugh as well. "No, I don't want my brain to explode. That would just ruin my day."

The two of them once again began to laugh, but little did they know a dark pair of eyes had fallen upon them, eyes that held nothing but revenge inside. The two friends were suddenly stopped in their tracks as a bolt of plasma blasted the grocery bags right out of Stitch's arms. The little blue experiment was knocked flat on his butt as burnt foodstuffs flew into the air. Lilo gave a startled yelp as she watched her friend fall. Simultaneously, the two of them turned and looked toward the source of the attack. Both of their jaws fell open, practically to the ground, as they saw the cone-headed experiment 6-2-7 standing on the other side of the street.

Neither one of them could think of anything to say, questions began to fill their heads faster than they could rationalize them. Before they could say anything, the evil experiment launched another bolt of plasma aimed right at Stitch. But the nimble little creature was able to leap up onto the awning of the store behind them and avoid the blast. The second shot managed to release Stitch from his surprise and he was once again able to speak.

"6…6-2-7! How… how, when was he reactivated?" stammered Stitch, never taking his eyes off of his foe.

"I… I don't know," said Lilo, finally getting over her own surprise, "but it doesn't really matter. We beat him once before, we can do it again." smiled Lilo as the strategy they had used before to beat 6-2-7 began to replay in her head.

Their strategy also began to play out in Stitch's head as well. A confident, casual smile quickly formed on Stitch's face as he leapt down from the awning. "Let's make him laugh!"

Stitch quickly extended his arms, spikes, and antenna and bolted across the street toward 6-2-7 with a vicious snarl. A toothy grin crossed 6-2-7's maw as he charged toward Stitch. The two super powered aliens were on a collision course, but just as the two were about to collide Stitch purposely put his foot down on the edge of a manhole. The large metal plate flipped up into the air as Stitch plummeted to the sewers blew with a rather sissy scream.

'Did he have to go for the sewer," thought Lilo sadly, 'Now he's gonna stink to high heaven.'

A second later a splash could be heard from deep in the hole. 6-2-7 stopped at the edge of the hole and peered down into it, just then Stitch pocked his head up out of the sewer. He was drenched in foul water and had muck and grim all over him, he topped it off by spitting out an old fish skeleton. But as he looked up toward 6-2-7 he was shocked to see that his… foul joke didn't get even a chuckle from the evil experiment. Instead, 6-2-7 was holding the metal sewer lid; in a flash he smacked Stitch across the head with it, sending the little experiment skipping along the pavement down the street. Lilo winced as she watched her friend slide to a stop on his face. But such a wound did not hinder Stitch for long; he leapt back onto his feet and charged right back toward 6-2-7.

A second later Stitch was flying head first into a fruit stand. Pieces of fruit were sent flying as the stand collapsed down onto him. Stitch soon appeared from under the fruity avalanche, a watermelon stuck on his head. Acting dazed, he stumbled all over the place before smacking head first into a lamppost and falling backwards. A moment later he sat back up, rubbing his head and expecting to see 6-2-7, at the very least, with the giggles. But 6-2-7 was not laughing; he was still standing in the same spot with the same look on his face.

'Why isn't this working?' wondered Stitch as 6-2-7 raised his paw toward him, 'I don't get it.'

Suddenly, a bolt of plasma hit Stitch square in the chest and knocked him back into the building, smashing through the wall and coming to a stop in the middle of the store. Customers were now running around screaming as Stitch clutched his chest in pain. A searing pain was swept through his tiny body, a pain far more intense than he remembered 6-2-7 being able to cause. Something was wrong; this wasn't the 6-2-7 he remembered. Just then, the cone-headed experiment appeared in front of Stitch, a sinister grin on his face. The experiment reached down and picked Stitch up by the ankle, dangling him helplessly in front of him.

"Surprised, 6-2-6?" asked 6-2-7 through a stifled laugh.

Stitch's eyes suddenly widened. "What, you… you can talk?"

"Yes, just one of a few new changes that were made to me. I see you've learned to speak better as well."

"What are you doing back here? Who reactivated you?" shouted Stitch.

6-2-7 smiled and turned back toward the street. "I'm here to destroy you, that's all you need to know!"

With an animalistic snarl 6-2-7 drove his fist into Stitch's gut, sending him flying across the street and into a building just a few feet from Lilo. The impact caused the girl to stumble and drop her own bags, but she quickly regained her balance and ran into the settling cloud of dust created by Stitch. She found her friend half buried in bricks and wood.

"Stitch," Lilo cried as she knelt down in front of him, "are you alright?"

Stitch coughed and then looked up at her with a goofy smirk. "I've… been better."

Lilo quickly began lifting pieces of debris off of Stitch. "What's going on, why isn't he laughing?" she asked as she frantically dug him loose.

"He said… that someone made some changes to him."

"But who made those changes?"

"I'm not sure," groaned Stitch as he began to push himself up, "Look out!"

Without warning Stitch shoved Lilo aside, knocking her on her ass. A split second later a blast of plasma struck the spot where she had been kneeling. The blast knocked Stitch free of the debris, but bounced him off the wall in the process. Stitch landed on his face in the middle of the street with a painful groan. Immediately, the blue experiment began to push himself up, small specks of red began to appear on the ground beneath him as a small trickle of blood ran from his nose. He managed to push himself up to his knees just in time to see 6-2-7 appear in front of him.

"Just as pathetic as ever, 6-2-6!" shouted 6-2-7 gleefully as he smashed his foot into the side of Stitch's face.

A surge of panic swept through Lilo's mind as she watched Stitch skip down the street like a stone on water. Her first thought was to run and get help, but that was out of the question. If she left Stitch now, 6-2-7 would surely rip him to shreds! With another kick, 6-2-7 sent Stitch flying right back in Lilo's direction. He bounced off the side of one building and then slid to a stop in the street, once again on his face. Lilo's eyes feel upon the nearly unconscious Stitch and then to 6-2-7, who was proudly making his way toward his battered predecessor, her panic continued to grow. She didn't know what to do; she hadn't felt so helpless in a long time.

Just then, it hit her she wasn't helpless anymore! Without a second thought she quickly scrambled over to the bags that she had dropped and began rummaging through their contents.

'How could I have forgotten so quick,' she thought as she dug through the contents of the bags, 'This is the reason why I sacrificed time with my ohana!'

A smile crossed the girls face as she finally found what she was looking for. The young Hawaiian girl quickly retrieved a small box of chalk and pulled out a piece. She got to her feet and ran over to the edge of the road, she dropped back to her knees and began to draw a design on the pavement. 6-2-7 was now just a few yards from Stitch, who was till laying face down on the street.

"Don't tell me you're dead already," laughed 6-2-7, "After all these years of waiting to get revenge on you I want a nice long fight! Now 6-2-6, stand and fight me!"

'I'm not going to just sit around while the rest of my family fights,' thought Lilo as she began writing strange symbols around two overlapping triangles within a circle, 'I'm not going to be a burden.'

"Very well then," shouted 6-2-7 after Stitch hadn't moved a finger, "if you won't stand and fight me, I'll just tear you apart where you lay!"

6-2-7 suddenly took off full speed toward Stitch, a vicious growl escaping him as he went. The evil experiment brought all of his razor sharp claws to bear as he leapt toward Stitch. "Die, 6-2-6!" 6-2-7 snarled as he homed in on his target.

But as he did Lilo tossed aside the chalk and slapped her hands down onto the circle. The simple chalk drawing suddenly began to glow with blue light while sparks jumped around between the lines. "I will use this alchemy to protect my ohana, this I swear!" shouted Lilo as she glared at 6-2-7. Just then, as the light seemed to shine its brightest, two slabs of pavement rose up and smashed 6-2-7 in mid-air like a fly in a book. Lilo knew right away that her attack wouldn't slow down 6-2-7 for very long. So she quickly ran over to Stitch, who was just now beginning to stir, quickly but carefully scooped him up and ran off down the street toward home.

Lilo was right to run, because just as the two friends disappeared from sight the two slabs of pavement exploded, revealing a very surprised and ticked off 6-2-7. "What was that?" questioned 6-2-7 as he casually brushed himself off. "That attack came from nowhere. Oh well, I guess it doesn't matter," said 6-2-7 as his toothy grin reappeared, "you can't escape from me, 6-2-6!"

6-2-7 once again took off down the street, following the invisible scent trail left by Lilo and Stitch. But before he could even make it to the end of the street he was struck in the back by something hard and metallic. In an instant glowing ropes of light wrapped themselves around his entire body, causing him to trip and fall on his face. The evil experiment let out a terrible growl as he tried to break free of his bindings but they would not budge. Even with all of his strength the ropes did not even begin to break.

"Don't waste your strength trying to break those ropes," came a voice from behind 6-2-7. The experiment rolled over and saw Tokajo casually strolling up to him with a proud smirk on his face, "they're powered by your own bio-magnetism. So unless you can stop the movement of the molecules in your body, breaking free is impossible."

"I thought I killed you." snarled 6-2-7.

Tokajo gave a small chuckle. "Please, it's going to take a lot more than just a little cold to kill me."

**Well, that's the end of this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. Please review.**


	4. Cut Off

The Three Demons: Trial

By: Kioko the pirate

Chapter 4: Cut off

Just moments after scooping Stitch up and running out of town, Lilo was turning up into her driveway. She had probably never run as fast as she had before in her whole life. Stitch was just starting to regain consciousness and was squirming slightly in her arms.

"Hold on, Stitch. We're almost there." said Lilo through tired breath.

Another minute later the two friends were climbing the front steps of the house. Without any real thought at all Lilo rammed the front door with her shoulder and, amazingly, knocked it wide open. Nani, Jumba, Angel, and Pleakly, who were all sitting around in the living room, practically leapt from their seats at the sudden entrance. Lilo managed to make it to the middle of the room before falling to her knees in exhaustion.

"Lilo, what's wrong, why are you out of breath?" asked Nani concernedly as she rushed over to her sister.

Lilo tried to open her mouth to speak but nothing but gasping breathes escaped. At the same time Angel noticed her wounded buchi-boo cradled in Lilo's arms. The experiment barely had his eyes open and was breathing painfully through clenched teeth. The pain from 6-2-7's plasma had not yet begun to fade, if anything it seemed to be getting worse.

"Stitch," cried Angel as she carefully took him out of Lilo's arms and rested him on the floor. It was then that she noticed the scorch mark on his chest, "my god what happened?"

Stitch tried to speak but he couldn't get the words past his pain. Instead, it was Jumba who chimed in with an answer. "Wound is looking like high intensity plasma burn."

"A plasma burn, but how would he get a plasma burn? You're the only one on the island that has plasma weapons. Unless… we're being invaded! Quick, everyone to the ship, we got to get out of here!" screamed Pleakley as he ran around the room.

"We are not being invaded, now calm down," said Jumba as he grabbed the noodly alien and put him in a headlock, "and go get Jumba's plasma burn kit!"

"Alright, alright, no need to push." Pleakley said as Jumba shoved him toward the stairs.

"So what happened?" asked Nani as Lilo finally managed to catch her breathe enough to speak.

Lilo took one last deep breathe before finally speaking. "Me and Stitch… were just leaving the grocery store… when we were attacked,"

"Attacked? Attacked by who?" asked Angel as she held Stitch's head in her lap and stroked his forehead gently.

"We were attacked by… 6-2-7." said Lilo as she wiped the sweat from her brow.

"6-2-7? Why that is being impossible. 6-2-7's pod is locked away securely in ship. Perhaps younger girl was seeing things."

Lilo gave Jumba an icy glare before pointing toward Stitch. "Does that burn look like I was just seeing things?"

Just then, Pleakley returned with a small metal box. He handed it to Jumba who then walked over and knelt down beside Stitch. "Jumba will admit it is very curious injury. But once treated Jumba will prove that 6-2-7 could not have been attacking you." The scientist said as he took a small, pen-like instrument from the box.

"Who is this 6-2-7 anyway?" asked Angel as she watched her creator shine a light from the pen down onto Stitch's burn, which slowly began to fade away.

"6-2-7 was newest evil genius experiment, designed with enhanced versions of all of 6-2-6's powers plus the powers of twenty other experiments." explained Jumba with an ever so proud tone.

"Jumba made him in order to keep Stitch's ego in check. But he ended up escaping and joining Gantu. We managed to defeat him by taking advantage of his 'Enhanced' sense of humor." said Lilo as she lifted herself up onto the couch.

"Couldn't you have tried to make him laugh again?" asked Nani curiously.

"We tried," said Lilo with a sigh, "but his sense of humor seems to have been fixed. But we don't know by who; the only other person who could possibly make changes to an experiment is Hamsterveil and he's dead. So the only other person is…"

"Hey, not to be looking at me. Evil genius has not been touching 6-2-7 since younger girl and 6-2-6 dehydrated him." Jumba said defensively as Lilo gave him a questionable look.

"It's not just… his sense of humor that's changed," groaned Stitch as he painfully sat up, his wound now gone, "everything about him seems to have been upgraded."

"This is not good," whined Pleakley as he rubbed the sides of his head, "6-2-7 was a monster before, but if he's been upgraded we're in trouble!"

"Come on, have some faith," smiled Lilo, "me and Stitch beat him before, we can do it again."

"Yeah!" agreed Stitch with a cheer.

Jumba gave a huff and folded his arms over his chest after putting away his tool. "I am still refusing to believe that 6-2-7 is being reactivated."

"Well then prove it!" said Lilo.

"Evil genius will prove it." the large alien said as he walked off toward the back door.

With that, everyone followed him out the back door and began making their way to the ship. At the same time, in a small clearing in the woods behind the house, Oki was standing on high alert. His sensitive ears twitched as he listened for the smallest sound, his eyes darted all around the small area looking for the slightest movement. There appeared to be no one around, the woods were completely silent. But suddenly a branch to the boy's right hand side rustled, Oki turned toward the branch, but just as he did something blasted toward him from behind. Oki saw the attack just in time and quickly leapt away as three mud balls hit the ground in front of him. He continued to leap backwards as more balls of mud landed at is feet. Finally, he leapt up into the air, grabbing a small stick and breaking it off a branch as he went.

As he reached the apex of his jump his hidden assailant burst from the branches of a tree across the clearing. A second later Oki and Kina collided in mid air, each wielding a stick like a ninja sword. The two siblings continued to battle one another as they fell back to the ground. Oki and Kina both landed gracefully a few feet from one another, both striking a dramatic fighting pose as they did.

"You can't defeat me, Toskue!" shouted Kina.

"We will soon see about that, Daruto!" replied Oki.

Without another word the two boys charged toward one another, yelling at the top of their lungs. Their makeshift weapons tore through the air before crashing together with a loud clap. Instantly, the two sticks shattered into a thousand pieces leaving the boys unarmed. But they were not deterred, as the two of them cocked their fists back and swung at one another. But before their blows could connect, a third opponent burst from the bushes and caught both the boys by the wrist. With a flash of pink fur the two boys suddenly found themselves face down on the ground with Ashley sitting proudly atop both of them.

"You have much to learn young ones." Ashley said with a proud smile on her face.

"Hey, no fair, we were supposed to be having a one on one fight!" whined Oki as he glared up at his sister.

"Yeah we were reenacting our favorite scene." added Kina.

"So, call it an alternate ending." smiled Ashley as she casually inspected her claws.

"No, we want it to go the way it did in the show! Now get off!" shouted Oki angrily.

"Not until the two of you say 'Girls rule and boys drool'." Ashley said as she grabbed the boy's wrists and twisted them behind their backs.

Both boys let out painful yelps as Ashley wrenched their arms. "Girls rule and boy's drool!" shouted Kina after just a few moments.

"You… ow… wimp!" snapped Oki as Ashley released her younger brother.

"He's not a wimp, he's smart." said Ashley as she tightened her grip on Oki's wrist.

"Yeah." agreed Kina as he rubbed his wrist.

"Well you're not going to get me to say it!"

"Oh yes I will!" laughed Ashley as she then dug her knee into the boys back.

"Ow, come on cut it out!" whined Oki.

"What's a matter, big tough Oki can't handle a little pain?"

"I'll show you pain," said Oki as he curled his legs up and hooked his feet under Ashley's arms. A second later Oki had Ashley in a headlock and was digging his knuckles into her head, "I'll show you the pain of the great noogy master!"

"Ow stop that hurts!" yelled Ashley as she tried to break free.

"That's cheating, Oki!" yelled Kina as he ran over and tried to help Ashley break free.

"I am the winner!" cheered Oki as he continued to noogy his sister while Kina and her tried to break free.

But a sudden movement in the brush a few yards away caught the attention of all three children. The three of them looked over to see Jumba making his way through the over growth that was slowly burying the trail. Close behind them was that rest of the family with Stitch and Angel bringing up the rear. As they passed Angel noticed the children and called out to them.

"Kids, hurry up and come with us!" shouted Angel, worrying that whoever it was that attacked Lilo and Stitch might have followed them home.

The kids quickly scrambled to their feet and chased after their family. A few minutes later the family arrived at Jumba's ship and made their way inside. "Now, I will be showing younger girl and 6-2-6 that 6-2-7 is still being locked away." said Jumba, his deep voice reverberating off the metal walls as he walked over to his onboard lab. Everyone gathered around the evil genius as he began punching in the code for his safe. After pressing the last number in the code the spiral doors of the safe slide open, revealing to the whole family that the safe was empty.

The whole family fell silent while Jumba had to take a second look. Lilo was the first to speak up. "See I told you he was out!" the young Hawaiian girl shouted as she crossed her arms once more.

"I cannot be believing this, how could someone steal 6-2-7 without setting off alarm system? Is making no sense!" said Jumba as he rubbed the top of his head.

"So what does this mean?" asked Angel worriedly.

"It means that now we have a super powerful experiment to deal with," sighed Lilo, "and it's going to be a lot tougher to beat him this time."

"Perhaps younger girl and 6-2-6 should be getting some backup?" suggested Jumba as he closed the safe.

"What kind of backup," asked Nani, "if Stitch isn't strong enough to handle 6-2-7 then surely none of the other experiments can do very much."

There was a moment of silence as everyone in the family tried to think of a plan. "Maybe we could get Kioko to come back and help!" blurted Angel, a smile crossing her face as she thought about seeing the pirate again.

"He'd definitely be able to help." said Lilo.

"Yeah, he'd be able to show 6-2-7 who is the boss!" shouted Pleakley.

"Mom, what's going on?" asked Ashley, "Who is 6-2-7?"

"He's just a bad experiment who wants to fight your dad."

"Is uncle Kioko going to come back and help dad fight him?" asked Kina.

"We'll see, but I'm sure he will." smiled Angel.

"No," snapped Stitch, "we don't need his help. We can beat 6-2-7 ourselves, you even said so yourself, Lilo!"

"I know I did, but don't you think it'd be smart to have a little backup. I mean 6-2-7 is stronger than you and while I could use my alchemy to turn him into water vapor… I'm not quite at that level yet." said Lilo timidly as she tapped the tips of her fingers together.

" I am agreeing with younger girl," said Jumba as he walked over to the ships communication controls, "little assistance could keep 6-2-7 from beating 6-2-6 into furry, blue pulp. Now, Jumba will see if he can be contacting formerly evil pirate boy."

"We don't need his help," yelled Stitch, baring his teeth, "it's my job to protect this family and that's what I'm going to do! If we call him for help, I'll never hear the end of it!"

"There's that ego of yours again," shouted Lilo scoldingly, "when are you going to learn some humility?"

"I don't have an ego," shouted Stitch, "I just don't like having some other man show me up in front of my family!"

"Do you really think that just because you need help from someone else that we'll think less of you?" blurted Angel as she moved around to look Stitch in the eye. "Stitch… don't be an idiot. I don't care if you beat him on your own or with help, I just don't want you getting hurt. So please, please just accept some help." begged the female experiment as she took Stitch's paw in hers.

"No," said Stitch as he yanked his paw away, startling Angel, "Angel this is something I feel very strongly about, I will beat 6-2-7 on my own! I promise that I won't get hurt."

"Come on, Stitch… be reasonable!" shouted Lilo.

Stitch opened his mouth to protest once more but was interrupted by Jumba who slammed his large hand down onto the controls. "Hate to say it, but is looking like 6-2-6 is going to get wish,"

"What are you talking about?" asked Lilo.

"Communications will not go through. Evil genius is unable to get any message further than moon. It is looking like there is too much magnetic radiation coming from sun."

"So, you can't get in touch with Kioko?" asked Pleakley.

"Nope, can't even get little peep to him."

"Alright… you got your wish," said Lilo as she looked down at her friend, "So now what do you propose we do about 6-2-7?"

Stitch was silent for a moment as he held his chin in thought. "Is it possible that you could have made a mistake and given 6-2-7 a weak spot, Jumba?"

Jumba shook his head. "Only weakness that 6-2-7 had was overactive funny bone. Other than that 6-2-7 was being flawless."

"Wonderful." sighed Stitch as he dropped his head.

"You mean he has absolutely no other weaknesses? Nothing you might have overlooked like… a sensitive stomach, a bum knee, or an allergy of some kind? Is there anything at all?" questioned Lilo desperately.

"I am being sorry, but there is nothing," said Jumba solemnly. Suddenly, Pleakley's wiry hand came down upon the evil scientists head with a loud slap, "ow, what was that for?" shouted Jumba as he rubbed his sore head.

"That's for being evil and making that horrible monster!" scolded the living noodle.

"Do not be blaming me, be blaming who ever it was who broke into evil genius safe!"

"But it's your fault for making 6-2-7 in the first place!" replied Pleakley while waving a long finger in Jumba's face.

"Cut it out you two," snapped Lilo, "we can't waste time blaming one another, we have an experiment to defeat!"

"Is not going to be easy," sighed Jumba as he rubbed the top of his head, "there is being no one on island who could stand toe to toe with 6-2-7."

At that moment, across the island, Tokajo was returning to his ship with 6-2-7, still bound securely by the energy ropes, tucked under his arm. As the bounty hunter stepped into the water of the cove he flung 6-2-7 into the shallow water face first. With his arms bound 6-2-7 struggled to bring his head up above water while the slick sand kept him from getting a good foothold, the evil experiment was starting to run out of air. All while Tokajo just stood by and watched, his arms folded casually over his chest.

"You see, this is why I don't like working with others," said Tokajo as he watched the experiment fight for air, "they always go and ruin my plans. Do you understand that now, thanks to your 'revenge', my targets are going to be on high alert. This means that I have to strike quickly without any time for good reconnaissance. You've just made my job harder, you worthless little fur ball!"

6-2-7 finally managed to get a foothold on a small rock underneath the water and pushed himself up out of the water. The experiment coughed a few times as the water emptied from his lungs, he then turned and glared up at the bounty hunter. "I told you to keep out of my way." sneered 6-2-7.

Tokajo gave a small laugh. "I really don't think you're in any position to be ordering me around like that," suddenly, the bounty hunter drove his foot into 6-2-7's cheek. The cone-headed experiment was knocked clear out of the water and onto the beach, "you see I'm not some 'half-bit' bounty hunter. I am Tokajo Gira, one of the greatest bounty hunters to ever exist in the three empires! I have brought down criminals with bounties on their heads the size of a solar system," Tokajo slowly began to walk over to where 6-2-7 had landed, the experiment was now lying on his back with blood running from the corner of his mouth, "now if you think I'm going to let some little animal spoil my reputation you are dead wrong."

"I am not an animal, I am the strongest experiment ever created!" snarled 6-2-7.

"Do you think that is supposed to impress me? You are nothing but a little fur ball in my eyes. If it were up to me I'd save myself the trouble and kill you right here, that way I wouldn't have to worry about you running off again. But there's something about you that my employer thinks will aid in this mission. And as I said, I will do anything to make sure I get paid, even if it means putting up with you." said Tokajo as he folded his arms over his chest. "Now, since I'm not allowed to kill you… I'll give you two options. The first being that you agree to do as I say until the mission is accomplished, taking into consideration that I will put you in charge of eliminating 6-2-6, or the second option where I keep you in those bindings and lock you in my ship until the mission is done. Now what is it going to be?"

6-2-7 just stared up at the man for a moment with a face void of expression. The cove fell silent as the two aliens just stared each other down, then 6-2-7's face slowly began to twist into a toothy smile. A moment later a deep chuckle began to escape the experiment and soon he was laughing manically. Tokajo began to sneer as he watched 6-2-7 convulse with laughter. After a minute the bounty hunter finally became fed up with the experiment's laughter.

"What is so damn funny?" shouted the swordsman.

It took another moment for 6-2-7 to calm down from his laughing fit but finally said: "You're so arrogant, to even begin to think that killing me is an option is complete foolishness! I am far more powerful than you are, if anyone should be giving orders it should be me!"

Tokajo continued to glare at the experiment for a few seconds longer before breaking out a smirk of his own. "Well, I can see that bargaining is out of the question. It looks like I'll have to resort to more drastic measures." said Tokajo as he slowly reached back and drew his sword.

"And just what do you intend to do with that? I hope you don't think that little toy can hurt me; I'm cut proof!"

Without another word Tokajo flipped his blade over so the tip of the blade was facing down and then drove the blade downward. The tip of the blade landed right in the middle of 6-2-7's left ear causing the experiment to let out a terrible scream as the top half of his ear separated from his body. Then, with a casual demeanor, Tokajo withdrew his weapon and held it at eye level.

"I take back what I said earlier, you have no options. You will do as I say… and that's final." smiled the bounty hunter as he watched 6-2-7's blood run down his blade.

**Well, that the end of this chapter. This is probably my fastest update in a long while. Sadly, the next chapter will come slower as I have to English papers to write. Not to mention I don't have the plot for the rest of the story quite nailed down yet. Please review.**


	5. Recon

The Three Demons: Trial

By: Kioko the pirate

Chapter 5: Recon

Mid-afternoon was now settling down onto the island as the family remained inside Jumba's ship. All of them were trying to think of someway to even the odds against 6-2-7, but no ideas were presenting themselves. The ship was almost completely silent; save for the sound of the kids yelling and laughing as Oki and Ashley played keep away with Kina using a ball they had found. Jumba had practically worn a path into the floor as he continually paced back and forth from one end of his lab to the other. Lilo and Nani were sitting on a small couch each staring off into space, Stitch and Angel sat on the floor together doing the same, while Pleakley was just standing there fiddling with his antenna.

"Does anyone have any ideas," moaned Lilo as she rubbed her forehead, "this is getting ridiculous."

"Don't expect me to come up with anything," replied Nani, "I'm not the experienced experiment hunter here."

"The same goes for me." blurted Pleakley.

"What about Yaarp, you caught him." said Stitch as he glanced over at the noodly alien.

"That was just the one time, besides that little noise maker was harmless compared to 6-2-7."

"Wait a minute," blurted Lilo as she suddenly went wide-eyed, "what if we made 6-2-7 harmless? Dealing with him would be a walk in the park if we could knock him down a few pegs!"

"Idea makes sense, "said Jumba as he finally stopped pacing, "but how exactly does not so little girl purpose to weaken 6-2-7?"

"That I don't know yet." sighed Lilo as she dropped her head.

"He isn't weakened by any materials is he? You know, like Superman is weakened by Kryptonite." asked Nani.

"Of course not, Jumba would not give evil genius experiment such a pathetic weakness."

Nani just shrugged, "Well that was my contribution."

"Ooh, ohh," chimed Ashley as she caught the ball, "make him eat broccoli, that always brings us down!" smiled the little girl as she threw the ball back to Oki.

The rest of the family just laughed. "What if he likes broccoli?" asked Angel playfully.

A disturbed and disgusted face crossed the girls face. "Eww, how could that even be possible." she said before running off with her brothers.

The family once again feel into silence as the children continued to play. Everyone except Stitch resumed staring off into space; instead the little blue alien became almost entranced by the blue ball that his children were tossing back and forth. At first he followed it along with his eyes, and then he began to sway his head in synch with it. He had no idea how much time was passing, it got to the point where it seemed the ball was moving on its own. And then, like a sudden lighting bolt, an idea struck! At first it seemed too simple to be true, but as he rapidly began to think it over it started to sound plausible.

"I've got it," cried Stitch as he sprung to his feet, startling everyone in the room, "we didn't just beat 6-2-7 with laughter the last time, we had that dehydration machine to finish him off! And I know for a fact that we still have it up in the attic! We could use that to beat him!"

"There is being one problem, 6-2-6, how are we supposed to get 6-2-7 into machine?" asked Jumba with a doubtful gaze.

"Couldn't you figure out a way to turn it into a… a gun of some kind? That way we wouldn't have to get him in." said Stitch.

The evil genius quickly began to think out the experiment's idea, raising one of his large hands he rubbed his chin and paced back and forth once more. "Theoretically," began Jumba, "it might be possible to use low grade plasma infused with water repellent particles to create a dehydrating effect. Whether or not it would be returning 6-2-7 to pod form is anyone's guess. Jumba would have to be looking at dehydrating machine to know for sure."

"Alright then, let's go get that machine!" cheered Stitch happily.

"I'm already on it!" shouted Lilo as she sprung to her feet and ran toward the back of the ship.

"Does this mean Stitch won't have to fight?" asked Angel, concerned about her buchi-boo's safety.

"If theory works 6-2-6 will not have to be lifting finger. So not to be worrying little pink head, 6-2-4." smiled Jumba.

"Don't tell me that you don't have faith in me." said Stitch suspiciously as he raised an eyebrow.

"Don't be stupid," replied Angel with a roll of her eyes, "I just don't want you getting hurt." she said as she nuzzled Stitch's cheek.

Stitch smiled and looked her in the eyes. "I'll be fine, don't worry about it." Stitch said as he kissed her on the forehead.

At that moment, in Kokaua town, the eyes of the town's people were captured by the sight of an odd stranger walking down the street. Tokajo was making his way down the streets of town without a single thing to disguise his alien features. He gritted his teeth in anger as he felt the people's eyes fall upon him. Even on such an underdeveloped planet his half-breed blood betrayed him. A full-blooded Koriganian would be able to walk down the streets and look completely normal, but no, he just had to have reptilian blood in him as well. Finally, his anger got the better of him; he stopped in front of an outdoor café and turned toward the people who were staring at him.

"If you bastards don't stop staring I'll rip your eyes out of their sockets and shove them up your ass so you can see just what kind of shit you really are!" snapped Tokajo, a vein popping out from his temple. The people immediately went back to eating their meals, afraid to even look up from their plates.

'God I hate this planet,' screamed Tokajo in his head, 'everything here is so fuckin' primitive! I mean come on; they're still using internal combustion engines! The last time I saw one of those was in the historical archives under the ancient technologies section.'

The bounty hunter gave a heavy sigh as he turned the corner leading toward the main road in town. "Of all the damn planets these experiments could have been on they just had to be on this one. And to make things even worse, that bastard didn't tell me where I could find this experiment! It took me forever just to narrow my search down to this island, and now I have no idea where to begin looking."

Tokajo stopped and began looking around, trying to find some way to figure out where his target was. But as he continued to look a round a sad realization began to come over him. If he was going to find his target, he would have to ask someone where it lived, which meant interacting with these primitive monkeys. After another minute of trying to figure out an alternative he broke down and continued walking, this time trying to find someone to ask. Being used to the constant hustle of the royal city he found it amazing how few people were out around town. It took him almost ten minutes just to find someone to ask, but before he could even ask they ran off, frightened by his appearance. The same thing kept happening over and over again for a half hour. Once again, Tokajo was cursing his lineage as he leaned up against the wall of a building.

"I hate people, I hate them so much," groaned Tokajo as he lightly hit his head back against the brick, "even here I can't escape their judging gazes." The bounty hunter fell silent for a moment as he looked up toward the clear blue sky. Finally, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then pushed himself off the wall. "Standing around complaining won't get this job done. The faster I can find these people, the faster I can get off this damn planet."

With a reluctant sigh Tokajo headed back out onto the streets of Kokaua town searching for someone who could tell him the location of 6-2-4. Just as before no one on the street would even approach him let alone talk to him. So he decided to take a different approach, he began walking into stores and other buildings and asked the people working there if they knew anything. Fortunately, their jobs obligated them to talk to any proposed customers, odd looking or not. Even so, Tokajo had very little luck; most of the people had no idea who the people in the photo were. Some of them did say they had seen the experiments and the humans around before, but that was about all. The bounty hunter was becoming frustrated, he was getting nowhere fast, he couldn't believe that in such a small town people knew so little about one another. But, not being one to give up, he continued to visit each store he came across.

After about an hour the Hawaiian sun was making even his reptilian blood a bit to warm. So he decided to find someplace to cool off and after a few minutes he found a store that sounded just perfect, Luki's Shaved Ice. The alien hurried across the street and into the store, a wave of cool air rushed over his body the second he stepped foot inside. It was the first pleasurable experience he had on the island. As expected he got strange looks from the people in the store as he walked in and sat down at the counter, but at that moment he couldn't care less.

"Uh, can I get you anything sir?" Tokajo heard a voice ask after putting his head down on the counter.

With a small growl the swordsman raised his head up slightly to see who was speaking. He found a younger man with smooth black hair, tan skin, and pointed facial features standing before him. He was wearing a green t-shirt with a nametag pinned on the chest that said "Luki" and light brown pants. The bounty hunter just stared at the man for a few moments before saying: "Not at the moment, I'm just cooling off."

"Ok then, just tell me if you need anything." nodded the man before walking away.

But as he walked away he revealed behind him a picture of a small blue, transparent creature with a big blue nose, tiny blue eyes, and a spiked head. Tokajo's eyes widened as he recognized the creature as an experiment, suddenly he had his first solid lead. If the storeowner knew an experiment he had most certainly met the experiments in the photo.

"I know something you can help me with!" shouted Tokajo keeping his eye on the photo.

Luki casually walked over to the man. "Yes sir, what can I do for you?" asked the man, his eyes drifting slightly to the sword on Tokajo's back.

"I need you to tell me what ever you can about these people." said Tokajo as he dug the picture out of his pocket and held it up to the man.

Luki looked at the picture for a few seconds before finally speaking up. "Oh, that's Lilo and Nani Pelekai," said the man as he pointed to the two girls, "that's their uncle Jumba and aunt Pleakley, and those are her dogs… Stitch and… Angel I believe they're called. But I don't know the names of their puppies there."

"Do you know where I can find them?" asked Tokajo, a smile crossing his face.

Luki raised his hand and scratched his head. "I can't say I know for sure. They live west of town I know that much."

Even though he hadn't gotten all the information he needed it was more than enough to narrow his search. Tokajo gave a pleased chuckle and got up off the barstool.

"Thanks, that helps a lot." he said before turning and heading toward the door.

Even though he hadn't had much time to cool off his new found lead refreshed him enough to get him up and moving. He left the store and immediately headed toward the west side of town. But as he left two pairs of eyes fell on him with great curiosity. The eyes belonged to two men, both standing across the street and peering out through the front window of a comic book store. The first man was a short, tubby, Hawaiian man with brown, curly hair and square frame glasses. The second was taller, skinnier, with messed up brown hair, and acne scars across his face.

"Dude did you see that?" asked the tubby man as he watched Tokajo run off down the street.

"Yeah," replied the taller man with a small laugh, "Luki's having a half-off special tomorrow."

"No, stupid! I mean did you see that guy that just ran off?" the man shouted as he pointed out down the street.

"Oh, yeah I saw him, so what?"

The tubby man slapped his forehead and turned toward the taller man. "So what? Didn't you see how he was dressed: the jumpsuit, all the gadgets, the sword, and the weird hair? Dude, he's a believer!"

"No way, you really think so?" asked the taller man with a burst of excitement.

"Absolutely, I mean think about it there isn't another convention here for four months. Why else would he be dressed that way? Now come on, let's go before we lose him!"

"Right!" agreed the taller man as they both ran out the store.

Unfortunately for them Tokajo had gotten so excited that he ran toward the west side of town, leaving his human followers in the dust. However, the bounty hunters excitement was in vain, for as he resumed questioning the town's folk his lead seemed to drop off. Once again people knew no more than he did about the location of his targets. Another half hour of searching passed before Tokajo returned to his frustrated demeanor. He was now at the very edge of town, where the road disappeared into the curving mountains of the island and all civilization seemed to end.

Tokajo just stood there, staring out into the wild expanse. "West of town," he grumbled to himself, "They could be anywhere out there! This mission is such a pain in the ass!" shouted Tokajo out into the mountains.

Just then, some thing to his left caught his attention. It was a small, roadside fruit stand with many multi-colored fruits sorted into bins and on tables. A small, elderly woman with huge glasses was walking amongst the produce with a hose, spraying each fruit with water. Tokajo just watched her for a moment as she went about her task with an almost mindless efficiency. But soon he felt the need to find out just what she knew about the people in the picture. Just by looking at the aged wrinkles on her face he knew he shouldn't expect much from her, even so he slowly walked over to her and got her attention with a tap on the shoulder. The tiny woman turned around and came face to face with the mans utility belt. She followed the from upwards until she was looking Tokajo right in the eyes.

The bounty hunter almost laughed as he saw the woman's beady eyes magnified by her glasses. "What can I do for you, deary?" asked the woman in a voice as shriveled as her face.

"I was wondering if you knew where I may find these people?" said Tokajo as he once again brought out the picture and held it in front of the woman.

The tiny woman grabbed the photo and squinted at it closer and yet she remained silent. Tokajo rolled his eyes and folded his arms as the woman continued to study the picture. "Oh, that's Nani, Lilo, her dogs and her weird Aunt and Uncle." blurted the woman with a cheerful tone.

"Yes, I know who they are, but do you know where they live?" shouted Tokajo as he took the picture back.

"What?" asked the woman, a confused look crossing her face.

"Do you know where they live?" repeated Tokajo with a louder voice.

"No, no, I sell fruit here, not fish."

Tokajo's own confused look crossed his face as he cocked an eyebrow. "I said nothing about fish, woman! Now do you know where these people live or not?"

The woman nodded and a small hopeful smile began to creep over Tokajo's face. "It is rather hot out today."

In a flash Tokajo's smile was gone and was replaced by the palm of his hand as it slapped over his face. The bounty hunter then knelt down in front of the woman, looked her right in the eyes and repeated his question once more. "Do you know where they live?" asked Tokajo in a slow, clear manner.

The woman blushed, and turned away slightly. "My you certainly have a naughty way of flirting." said the woman in her best attempt at a playful tone.

Tokajo became frozen, his upper lip quivering with disgust. A moment later the woman turned back toward him, reached up and stroked one of the spines on his head. "Oh my goodness," she shouted as she quickly withdrew her hand. Tokajo's eyes narrowed, expecting to hear the onslaught of judging remarks. "Your hair is so stiff and dry!"

A dumbfounded look appeared on Tokajo's face as the woman turned around. "But not to worry, deary, I have just the thing!"

Before the bounty hunter could even react the little woman smashed a cantaloupe over his head. Tokajo shot to his feet as the melon's slimy ooze ran down his face. "There, that should help moisturize that straw you call hair."

Tokajo clenched his teeth in anger and reached back toward his sword, but just as he grabbed hold of it a voice rang out in his direction. "Hey, Dude hold up!"

Tokajo's eyes left the small woman and looked down the street back toward town. He saw two humans running up the sidewalk toward him, one of them was quite large while the other was slim and frail looking. Both of them were dressed in brightly colored jumpsuits and were carrying long silver staffs.

"Just who the hell are you two?" sneered Tokajo as he turned toward the men.

The two humans stopped and struck a dramatic pose. "I am the great Merwin Finkelstein!" the fat human proclaimed.

"And I am the amazing Stephen Wazakowitz!" shouted the skinny one.

"And we are the great alien hunters of Hawaii!" the two of them exclaimed in unison.

Tokajo and the tiny woman just stared at the two men with blank expressions for a few moments. "What a couple of coconuts." said the woman before turning and walking off.

"You two are alien hunters?" asked Tokajo suspiciously.

"That's right, we are the greatest alien hunters on all the islands. No one is better at the job than us." said Merwin with a proud smile.

A toothy grin crossed Tokajo's face along with a small chuckle. "You don't say, and what exactly are your credentials? What aliens have you caught?"

The two "Alien hunters" pride shattered in an instant. "Well uh… you see," stammered Stephen, "the aliens we've caught are… controversial."

"Shut up, stupid!" yelled Merwin as he slapped his hand over his friends mouth. "What he means is that the aliens we've caught are controversial because people don't believe that we single handedly captured them."

"I see." smiled Tokajo as he folded his arms.

"Anyway, now you know who we are. Now we must ask just who are you, fellow alien hunter?" asked Merwin, in a sudden and very professional tone.

"I am the bounty hunter, Tokajo Gira." said Tokajo, amusing the two humans.

"Tokajo Gira, wow what a cool name!" smiled Stephen.

"And what business do you have here on Kauai? Are you in pursuit of an elusive E.T.?" questioned Merwin.

"As a matter of fact I am."

"You are? Than let us assist you with its capture!" shouted Merwin as he struck another pose.

"I need no assistance catching it, however perhaps you could help me find it." The bounty hunter handed the large human the photograph, "Do you know where I may find these people?"

The two men looked at the picture, looked back at each other, and then back at Tokajo. "Do we ever! You know we've suspected that girls dogs of being aliens for years!" shouted Merwin.

"We've just never been able to catch one to make sure." added Stephen.

Tokajo's excited smile returned to his face, he could practically taste those imperial credits now. "Where, where are they?" yelled Tokajo excitedly as he reached forward and grabbed the boys by their collars.

"They live… about a mile down the road." said Stephen timidly.

"It's a… a long drive way on the left side of the road. You can't miss it." finished Merwin.

"Finally, it's about damn time! Bounty here I come!" smiled Tokajo as he let go of the boys and turned to run off down the road.

"Wait, let us help you! After all, we are the experts!" shouted Merwin as he and Stephen held up their "weapons".

Suddenly there was a flash of steel and the men's weapons fell to the ground in pieces, revealing their fallacy. And a second later their jumpsuits fell from their bodies in shreds, revealing their superhero boxers. "You best be careful," smirked Tokajo as he sheathed his sword, "alien hunting can be deadly."

Before either man could say anything Tokajo took off down the road with inhuman speed, leaving the two men in the dust.

"Dude, he's fast." said Stephen.

"You're not kidding." agreed Merwin.

Just then the little old lady returned to the front of her stand. "Put some clothes on before you scare customers." she said as she went back to watering her produce.

In just a few moments Tokajo found the driveway and made his way up to the house. He quickly darted into the bushes and up into the trees as the building came into sight. He took up position in a tree to the side of the house and grabbed a pair of thermal binoculars from one of his many pockets. Holding the device up to his eyes he scanned the house for any living creature. To his dismay he found the house to be completely empty, there wasn't a single trace of any of his targets. His frustration returning he lowered his binoculars and began looking around.

"Where the hell could they be," grumbled Tokajo, "they couldn't have gone far."

Suddenly, his eyes caught a brake in the dense foliage a few feet from where he stood; he leapt to another tree for a better look and quickly found the rough trail leading deeper into the woods. "What, do they have a safe house or something?" joked Tokajo as he headed down the trail, still sticking to the trees.

Just seconds later Jumba's only slightly disguised ship came into view. "Hmm, a Solaris JP-U, fancy. Some one here has some money." smiled Tokajo as he came to a stop in a tree one hundred yards from the ship. Once again he brought out his thermal binoculars and scanned the ship. The metal walls disappeared revealing nine thermal signatures, all burning bright with reds and yellows. Tokajo smiled devilishly as he quickly identified his target. The one known as Angel was standing towards the middle of the ship and appeared to be talking to three smaller heat signatures who were sitting in front of her.

"Target acquired," smirked Tokajo, "this'll be a piece of cake."

At that same moment inside the ship, every one was standing around waiting for Jumba to complete the dehydrating gun. Lilo and Nani were just glancing through some alien magazines that were lying around, Pleakley was still pacing nervously, and Stitch was watching Angel scold the kids after they had broken some of Jumba's beakers with their ball.

"How would you like it if your grandpa Jumba went into your room and broke something of yours, huh?" scolded Angel as the kids sat cross-legged around her, their heads hung low.

"That wouldn't be cool." said Oki timidly.

"Exactly, now go apologize." ordered Angel as she pointed toward Jumba.

Slowly, the kids got up and walked over to Jumba, their heads still hung low. "We're sorry grandpa Jumba." all three said at once.

Jumba looked away from his microscope and gave a hearty smile. "Not to worry, little ones. Jumba can always buy new beakers."

"Now if you want to play with your ball, keep it on the floor, got it?" asked Angel as the kids returned to her.

All three nodded and walked away. "I really wish you would stop referring to me as grandpa, 6-2-4. I' am not being that old."

"Sorry," smiled Angel, "but since I consider you my father and seeing that they are my children, you are a grandfather."

Jumba just rolled his eyes and went back to his microscope. "So how's it coming?" asked Lilo as she put her magazine down.

"Is looking promising," blurted Jumba, his eyes still glued to his work, "water repellent particles are mixing with plasma better than Jumba expected. Trick now is getting balance of the two right."

"So how long do you think it'll take to get the balance right? We are kinda tight on time after all, who knows what kind of trouble 6-2-7 is causing?" said Stitch.

"Shouldn't be taking much time, the trickiest part is done. One or two hours and weapon should be complete."

"I'm still nervous about this, Stitch," said Angel as she walked over to her buchi-boo, "what if something unexpected happens, like if the gun doesn't work?"

Stitch just smiled and put his paws on her shoulders. "How many times do I need to say it,there is no reason to be nervous. If the gun doesn't work than me and Lilo will just have to bring him down the old fashioned way. Trust me, you have nothing to worry about." Stitch said before kissing Angel on the nose.

Angel just smiled and stroked Stitch's cheek, but as she did a strange feeling rushed through Stitch's body. It felt like someone was watching him, making the fur on the back of his neck stand on end. Stitch coked his head over his shoulder in the direction that the sensation seemed to be emanating from. With a blink of his left eye the world out side the ship became clear as his x-ray vision pierced the ships hull.

"Oh shit, he's sensed me." blurted Tokajo before lowering his binoculars and leaping away into the forest and avoiding Stitch's gaze.

"What's wrong, honey?" asked Angel concernedly as Stitch continued to stare over his shoulder.

Stitch was silent for a moment, but after finding nothing outside he blinked away his x-ray vision and turned toward her. "It was nothing, I just thought I heard something." smiled the blue experiment before kissing Angel again and walking away, leaving Angel with a confused expression.

"Well, that 6-2-6's senses are keener than I thought," said Tokajo to himself as he began making his way back to his ship, "It doesn't matter though, he won't be able to stop me from catching that experiment 6-2-4. Now all I have to do is come up with a strategy and get that damn experiment 6-2-7 to cooperate and we'll be in business. Come night fall, 6-2-4 will be in my custody and all the rest will be six feet under."

**Well that's the end of chapter 5. Sorry it's taken so long, the holidays kept me busy. Chapter 6 will be up as soon as possible. Please review.**


	6. Trial by Fire

The Three Demons: Trial

By: Kioko the pirate

Chapter 6: Trial by Fire

The warm tropical sun was now venturing toward the horizon, leaving the island to slowly fade into twilight. Despite the looming dangers, both seen and unseen, the family remained peaceful as they awaited Jumba's creation. Pleakley had slumped into one of Jumba's lab chairs, exhausted from his nervous pacing, Lilo and Nani remained seated at a couple of chairs, both slowly beginning to fall asleep, Angel was seated on one of the ships couches with the kids sleeping soundly on each side of her, and Stitch was seated on the floor in front of Angel, who was twirling the tuft of fur on his head. Jumba was the only one who was still up and about, putting the final touches on this spur of the moment project.

"Eureka," the large alien suddenly yelled, startling everyone back into consciousness" Jumba has perfected weapons ratio!"

"Does this mean the weapon's finished?" asked Stitch as he got to his feet.

Jumba pulled a small transparent container filled with neon red goo out from behind his back and clicked it into the back of a blaster. "Weapon is finished and raring to go, 6-2-6! But first let us test it to be absolutely sure." said Jumba as he tossed the gun to Stitch and then turned around. The evil scientist opened a small cupboard beneath his workstation and pulled out a pair of pineapples. "Shoot these and see what happens." ordered Jumba as he set the fruit down on the table.

Stitch nodded, and with his tongue hanging from his mouth took aim at the fruit. With a quick pull of the trigger Stitch fired two blasts of red plasma into the fruit. The pineapples flew through the air, hissing as water vapor shot out from within them. The fruit landed on the floor on the other side of the table, as the family ran around to see the effects. All of them gathered in a circle around the pineapples and found the fruit shriveled and slightly singed.

"They're burnt," blurted Lilo, "are you sure there isn't too much plasma?"

"Jumba is completely sure! Fruit is burnt because they are not resilient to plasma. 6-2-7 however, is resilient so he will not be burnt, but he will most certainly be returned to pod form."

"Well that's good, at least we won't be hurting one of our cousins." said Angel as she picked up one of the pineapples and sniffed it. "Hmm, that actually doesn't smell too bad."

"Alright, so now all we need to do is find 6-2-7." smiled Stitch as he stared into the container of plasma.

"Yeah, all we have to do is follow the smell of his rancid breathe." added Lilo, scrunching her nose at the thought of the smell.

Stitch gave an excited laugh as he thought about getting even with 6-2-7. "What are we waiting for, let's go get him!" cheered Stitch as he turned for the door, but before he could get moving he was picked up by the scruff of the neck by Lilo.

"Hold your horses, Rambo. We still need a plan." said Lilo as she held her friend up to her eye level.

"Plan, what plan? We don't need a plan, we just find him and shoot him, simple as that."

"We need a back-up plan, Stitch. Just in case something happens, like if 6-2-7 damages the gun before you get a chance to shoot him."

The two friends suddenly found themselves in a staring match, each trying to persuade the other with their eyes. But after only a few short moments Stitch gave a huff of defeat and crossed his arms over his chest. "Fine, we'll do it your way."

"You made the right choice." smiled Lilo as she set Stitch back down next to Angel who had to hold her paw over her mouth to keep from laughing.

"Oh go on and laugh," said Stitch, "I know you want to."

"No… no, I won't laugh at you, honey," said Angel as she wrapped her arms around Stitch, "I do that too much already."

Stitch snorted and then ducked out from under her embrace leaving Angel to roll her eyes and shake her head. "Well come on, let's get back to the house. We'll grab an experiment container and head out." said Lilo as she motioned for everyone to follow her.

"Why use an experiment container if 6-2-7 is going to be in pod form?" asked Pleakley.

"The container is in case the blaster fails. If it does we'll just have to wrestle 6-2-7 into the container."

"That's your backup plan?" mocked Stitch as he followed Lilo out of the ship.

"Shut up, Stitch." replied Lilo with a point of her finger.

The family now stepped outside the ship for the first time in hours. The shadows were beginning to stretch across the pathway leading home. "We wasted the whole day in there." moaned Nani as she looked up at the sky.

"It's not like you had anything major to do today, Nani." said Lilo.

"Well I know when we get back I want you kids to pick up your toys in the backyard." said Angel as she looked back over her shoulder at her children.

"OK, Mom." All three said in unison.

The family made their way back home with barely another word. Their day seemed as though it would end fairly uneventfully. Lilo and Stitch would go out and recapture 6-2-7 in less than an hour and would be back in plenty of time for dinner. But as they made their way down the beaten trail, they failed to realize that every step they took was seen by a bounty hunters thermal binoculars.

"Time to collect, my bounty." grinned Tokajo.

A few moments later the family was making their way around the front of the house. Angel had managed to slip ahead of the rest of the family, followed by Stitch, Lilo, the kids and then Jumba, Nani, and Pleakely.

"Now are you sure you and Lilo will be fine?" asked Angel once more, stopping at the top of the front stops.

Stitch rolled his eyes and laughed. "You won't let that go will you? I told you everything will be fine," Stitch said with a smile. Angel smiled back and turned back toward the door, "you don't need to worry."

Suddenly, something zipped past Stitch's head and struck Angel in the middle of her back. Angel let out a small yelp as bands of yellow energy wrapped themselves around her body, binding her arms to her side and tying her legs together. Stitch's mouth fell open with a sharp gasp, but before he could do anything 6-2-7 leapt down from the roof and landed between him and Angel. With a toothy grin 6-2-7 backhanded Stitch across the cheek and sent him flying into Lilo. Both friends fell down to the first landing on the stairs as 6-2-7 turned to face Angel. The pink experiment was still facing the door, paralyzed with fear as the memories of her abduction by Pantucka came rushing into her mind. She could practically hear that mad man's voice laughing in her ear. She became so lost in those memories that she didn't notice 6-2-7 extend his extra arms and grab onto her, holding her tight against his back.

"Catch me if you can, 6-2-6!" laughed 6-2-7 before leaping down to the drive way and bounding off toward the forest.

"Angel!" yelled Stitch as he rolled off of Lilo and onto his belly.

Stitch's voice finally shook Angel free of her memories and she snapped back to reality. "Stitch!" she screamed.

"Stitch, hurry and use the gun!" yelled Lilo.

With an angry growl Stitch grabbed hold of the gun, extended his extra arms, spikes, and antenna, and leapt up onto the hand railing and began firing at 6-2-7. Blast after blast of plasma flew toward him, but the evil experiment evaded every last one.

"Be careful, 6-2-6," blurted Jumba, "if you hit 6-2-4 she will be turned back into pod!"

"I know that!" snapped Stitch as he continued to fire. But it was too late, 6-2-7 quickly vanished into the forest along with Angel.

Without a second thought Stitch leapt down from the railing and sprinted off after 6-2-7. But just as he was about to enter the woods three metal spikes struck the ground in front of him. A second later the spikes exploded and knocked Stitch back through the air, but the blue experiment managed to right himself and land on his feet. He growled menacingly as the smoke from the blast began to clear.

"Now what?" moaned Lilo as she got back on her feet.

All was silent for a moment, before a new voice reached their ears. "I gotta say, for such a small island you people were a big pain in the ass to find."

The smoke finally cleared enough for the family to see the new threat that stood before them. "Who the hell are you?" snapped Stitch as he looked the man up and down.

"The name's Tokajo Gira, one of the empires greatest bounty hunters." smiled Tokajo with an arrogant tone.

"A bounty hunter," blurted Lilo, "what possible reason could you have for coming after us? I know none of us have bounties on our heads."

The alien looked over toward the girl. "You're absolutely right, none of you have bounties on your heads, well I should say only one of you had a bounty. And thanks to experiment 6-2-7, I'm going to get it."

"Not if I can help it!" yelled Stitch before launching towards the man, his claws and teeth bared.

But before Stitch could land a hit, Tokajo slammed his fist into the experiment's large nose and sent Stitch flying back to where he had started. "Jumba, get everyone inside the house now!" commanded Lilo before vaulting over the railing down to the driveway.

Jumba nodded and began moving the rest of the family inside. "Lilo, be careful!" shouted Nani, the sound of worry heavy in her voice.

"Don't worry about me." the young girl replied, smiling back up at her sister.

"Now that I have 6-2-4 in custody, the only task left is to eliminate the rest of you," said Tokajo as he began walking toward Stitch, who was holding his nose in pain, "and that shouldn't be hard at all."

Tokajo reached down into a pocket on his belt and pulled out another exploding spike. With a toothy grin he flung the weapon straight toward Stitch, but just before it could strike it's victim a wall of earth shot up from the ground and blocked the weapon. Stitch quickly got to his feet and leapt away just as the spike exploded and reduced the wall to rubble.

"What the hell, where'd that come from?" shouted Tokajo as he tried to swat away the smoke.

"It came from me." snapped Lilo as she ran over to Stitch's side.

"From you, but humans don't have powers like that." said Tokajo sounding very confused.

"Well I do, and if you intend on attacking my family I will use them to their fullest extent."

Another toothy grin found its way across the swordsman's face. "I hope so, you may make this worth my time yet."

"Don't forget you also have me to deal with!" growled Stitch as he clenched his fist.

"No," blurted Lilo, catching her friend off guard, "Stitch you have to go after Angel, I'll stay here and handle this loser."

Stitch could hardly believe his ears; Lilo wanted him to leave her to fight a dangerous alien on her own. Every synapse in his brain was telling him that the idea was crazy, but Lilo's expression as she looked down on him said otherwise. This didn't stop him, however, from voicing his doubts. "I can't leave you here on your own," the experiment shouted, "this guy is too dangerous!"

"I don't care, Stitch! You have to go after Angel, there's no telling what 6-2-7 might do to her!"

"But you might get hurt!" Stitch shouted even louder.

"I can handle myself, now go before it's too late!" snapped Lilo as she stomped her foot and pointed toward the forest.

Once again the two friends found themselves in a staring match, for a few seconds the world around them seemed to freeze. But then, just like before, Lilo's gaze beat out Stitch's and the little, blue experiment surrendered. Without another word, Stitch turned and bolted past Tokajo and toward the woods.

"Oh no, you're not going anywhere my friend!" said Tokajo as he aimed his gauntlet at Stitch's back. But before he could fire Lilo slid behind him, and in a single fluid motion, swept his legs out from under him. Surprised, the bounty hunter fell backwards onto the ground, just in time for Lilo to leap back up to her feet and bring her heel down onto his chest.

"Rule number one of a fight, never take your eyes off your opponent!" exclaimed Lilo as the bounty hunter let out a painful grunt.

Meanwhile, inside the house, everyone was gathered around the front window, watching closely as the battle outside began. "Where is Stitch going?" asked Nani frantically.

"It looks like not so little girl sent 6-2-6 after 6-2-4 and 6-2-7." said Jumba.

"Is she lolo," shouted Nani, "she can't take on a bounty hunter by herself! We have to do something!"

"Like what?" blurted Pleakley.

"Go get a blaster or something, anything, we just can't leave her to fight alone!"

"All blasters are out in ship, and it's too dangerous now to go and get them."

"So we're just going to sit here and watch my only sister fight a dangerous alien?"

"Sadly is looking like it, but on bright side Lilo now has alchemy and apparently some good hand-to-hand moves. I have very little doubt in mind that she will win."

"You better be right, for your sake."

Lilo now retreated back a few feet as Tokajo pushed himself back onto his feet. The young girl got into a fighting stance as the bounty hunter turned toward her. "I'm impressed, you've got some good moves for a human female." he smirked as he rubbed his sore chest.

"Physical strength can be an important part of alchemy, and a good alchemist always knows how to defend themselves in case their alchemy fails." said Lilo, quoting a line she had read in her book.

"That makes sense," agreed Tokajo with a short nod, "the same rule could be applied to a bounty hunter. Never rely completely on your equipment, doing so could be fatal. So in light of this fact, I will be kind and not use any of my weapons for the moment." said Tokajo as he took up a fighting stance of his own. "Now, let's see what other moves you have."

With that Tokajo took off running straight at Lilo, his speed catching the young girl by surprise. She barely managed to react in time to dodge a punch by the bounty hunter, but even though he missed he managed to send the girl stumbling backwards. He took the chance to leap over the girl, landing just behind her and sending a kick right into the middle of her back. Lilo was sent flying through the air before sliding to a stop a few feet away. She had very little time to recover before Tokajo followed her; leaping high into the air he dropped toward the girl like a meteor. Lilo barely saw the attack over her shoulder and rolled away at the last minute, allowing the bounty hunter to slam into the ground with earth shaking force.

The young Hawaiian got to her feet just in time to see the swordsman rising up from the cloud of dust raised by his attack, a pleased smirk on his face. Gritting her teeth in anger she took her chance and charged the alien. She leapt into the air and swung her leg toward Tokajo's head, but the bounty hunter saw her attack coming and caught her leg in his hands. Lilo let out a startled gasp as she was spun around and flung back into the air. However, as Tokajo released his grip, Lilo brought her other leg around and caught him in the jaw before flying off and landing a few yards away. Believing the man to be stunned Lilo once again charged toward the bounty hunter, her fist cocked back and ready. But as she threw her punch toward Tokajo's face his hand rose to intercept it and caught her smaller hand like it was a baseball.

Then, in the blink of an eye, Tokajo countered by nailing Lilo in the gut with a powerful punch. The young girl's breath was knocked out of her along with some spit and blood. The bounty hunter finished his counter by backhanding the girl across the face and sent her spiraling into the air. Lilo crashed to the ground with a painful yelp and soon began to cough uncontrollably.

"You're more skilled than I expected," said Tokajo as he wiped a little blood from the corner of his mouth, "it doesn't matter though, you can't beat me."

'He's right,' the girl thought as she slowly pushed herself up onto her bleeding elbows, 'There's no way I can match his strength in hand-to-hand combat. But if I use alchemy, he'll use his weapons and that'll make this fight even more dangerous. It's my only option though, I have to use it no matter what the risk.' she then began to slowly draw a transmutation circle in the dirt, while Tokajo just watched from afar.

"Are you even going to bother getting up," asked the swordsman, "You can't fight me while you're just laying there in the dirt."

Her coughing finally gone, Lilo managed to crack a smirk as she rolled over onto her shoulder. "I don't need to get up to fight you, or beat you for that matter. I can just do this." said Lilo as she looked down toward Tokajo while slapping her hand down on the circle.

Suddenly, there came a bright flash of light from just beyond the girl. Tokajo's face instantly became contorted with a look of confusion, but he quickly let out a startled gasp as he felt himself sinking. The bounty hunter looked down to find that the earth beneath him had turned to mud and that he was quickly being swallowed by it.

"What, what the hell is going on!" cried Tokajo as he watched his hips disappear into the muck.

"Now you see what we humans are capable of," smiled Lilo as she pushed herself up to her feet and turned toward the man, "using a power called alchemy I forced the moisture in the air into the soil around you, creating instant quicksand. You're done for, Tokajo."

"I'm impressed," said Tokajo as the mud reached his chin, "you're definitely making this worth my while." smiled the bounty hunter before disappearing completely into the ground.

Lilo just gave a huff as she watched the earth return to its solid form. "Did she do it, did she win?" asked Pleakley as he nervously peaked out the window.

"I'm not sure," replied Jumba, "if bounty hunter is as good as he claims, simple sinking sand will not be enough."

Outside, Lilo felt a lot more confident about her little trap. She breathed a sigh of relief and then turned to face the house. "Hey, I'm going to go help Stitch," she yelled up to her family, "I'll be back soon!"

But just then, the ground began to rumble, and a loud cracking sound reached her ears. She turned around just in time to see the ground where Tokajo had been rise up and then explode into a cloud of dust. The girl quickly covered her face with her arm as she was pelted with small stones and dust. After a moment the debris settled and Lilo lowered her arm, but as she did a spike connected to a chain shot out from the dust and straight for her. She barely managed to side step it, the spike only tearing the sleeve of her shirt, as it continued past her before sinking into the side of the house. Lilo's eyes narrowed as she watched Tokajo pull himself up out of the hole using the chain. He now looked a little more worn out with several scratches on his face and the upper left side of his jumpsuit torn away, all most likely caused by the explosion.

"Nice try, but I'm afraid I'm not that easy to get rid of." smiled Tokajo as he retracted his spike. " And since you decided to use your powers," Tokajo slowly reached back and grabbed his sword, "I won't hold back any more."

Lilo took up a fighting stance as she watched the bounty hunter draw his blade, now she was in trouble. At that moment, on the other side of the island, 6-2-7 emerged from the forest with Angel still tight in his grasp. The evil experiment bounded from one rock to another until he was in front of Tokajo's ship and then flung Angel off his back and onto a nearby rock. Angel held her eyes closed as her lips quivered with fearful sobs. Her whole body trembled as her memories of Pantucka's tortures returned once again. She could once again see clearly that large saw blade dropping down towards her and the cold metal of the table.

But once again a voice from the outside drew here away from that terrible place. However, it wasn't Stitch's voice that called out to her, it was the voice of 6-2-7. "Stop your sniveling, you pathetic experiment!" 6-2-7 demanded in his all too harsh tone. "I can't stand it," Angel slowly opened her eyes but continued to sob, "I said shut up!" barked 6-2-7 before kicking the defenseless Angel across the cheek, nearly knocking her into the water.

After a moment Angel managed to bring herself under control. "What… what are you going to do with me?" asked Angel timidly as she tried to keep her mind away from her memories and hopefully 6-2-7's foot.

"I don't know and I don't care," said 6-2-7 bluntly as he continued to stare into the forest, waiting for his opponent, "I'm only here to take care of 6-2-6. What that bounty hunter wants to do with you is none of my concern or my business."

"Why do you want to fight Stitch so much? What did he ever do to you?"

6-2-7 was silent for a moment, but soon a toothy grin that stretched from ear to ear appeared on his face with a sinister chuckle to match. "I don't want to just fight 6-2-6, I want to kill him," said 6-2-7 with morbid excitement in his voice as he looked over at Angel, "I want to rip off his arms and legs and leave him a bloody corpse. I want to humiliate him like he humiliated me, that's why I haven't thrown you into the ship yet. I can't think of anything more humiliating than being crushed in front of someone you love, especially when you're trying to save that person. I want his last thoughts to be about how he's failed and how he let his 'family' down. Even an inferior experiment like you should be able to comprehend what a soul crushing feeling that would be."

"You're underestimating him, Stitch beat you last time and he'll beat you again!" snapped Angel, surprising 6-2-7 and even herself.

6-2-7's grin shrank to a smirk as he kicked Angel in the shoulder, flipping her over onto her back. The evil experiment got down on all fours and put his face right in front of Angel's, causing the pink experiment to tremble with fear. "I am the one being underestimated. While most beings can push past their natural limits the strength that we experiments possess is absolute, we can never grow stronger. The limit on 6-2-6's strength is far below my own and so he can never be stronger than me, which means he can never win." 6-2-7 said before standing up.

Angel's heart sank, she knew that 6-2-7 was right, once an experiment was made that was stronger than you, there was no surpassing them. No matter how much she wanted it, Stitch would never be stronger than 6-2-7. But there was hope, she could see right off that Stitch was far more clever than 6-2-7. The cone-headed experiment had let his muscle go to his head, Stitch would easily out smart him. With that small glimmer of hope Angel found the courage to speak up once again.

" My Stitch could never be beaten by a dumbass like you!" the pink experiment snapped as she bared her teeth.

6-2-7 toothy grin returned as he looked over his shoulder at his captive. That grin instantly destroyed the small bit of courage that Angel had just gained, and so she timidly lowered her ears and curled up as much as she could. "That confidence of yours will be the death of you." 6-2-7 said casually before turning and driving his foot down into Angel's gut.

All of Angel's breath was knocked clean out of her, along with some phlegm. 6-2-7 only chuckled as he watched her writhe in pain and couch violently. Angel rolled over on to her front as the pain swept through her body, spreading out like branches on a tree. Her head was now dangling over the side of the rock as the pain slowly began to fade, leaving only a throbbing feeling in the middle of her gut. She began to catch her breath, as she looked her reflection in the eye. What she wouldn't of given to be that reflection, to mirror the world and yet suffer none of its consequences. Such a tranquil existence would be true paradise; and if she could she would snatch it up in a heartbeat.

'So close, and yet so far away.' she thought.

Suddenly, something in her chest tightened and caused her to cough once more. But as she did, two small drops of blood left her mouth and fell toward the crystal clear water below. Silently, they fell until finally they hit the water, but as they did the drops of crimson liquid turned black as oil. Angel's eyes suddenly shot open as an icy cold feeling started to engulf her body. It felt as though she had suddenly been encased in a block of the coldest ice imaginable. She began to shake as the feeling began to grow all too familiar. Her breathing became shallow and sharp as the cold seemed to clench her lungs. Just then, the cold released its grasp and Angel let out a slow and steady breath. But as she did the accursed aura that she kept sealed within seeped out of her like a warm breath on a cold winters day. All at once a calm washed over her that swept away all the fear that held her so tight, leaving her with an expression of indifference on her face.

Angel now slowly rolled over onto her side to face 6-2-7, who now had his back to her. She only stared at him for a few moments, not a single thought passing through her mind. But then, like a shot, the image of her breaking free from her bindings and stabbing her arm through 6-2-7's back and out his front flashed into her mind. Even though it was a thought it felt so real that it took her a moment to realize it wasn't. She could feel the warmth of his blood running down her arm, the thumping of his still beating heart against her flesh, his screams of pain, and even the demonic grin on her face. The image snapped her out of her trance as quickly as it had appeared. Her labored breathing returned as panic once again set into her mind. Such a thought was not like her, and never had the scar had such an effect on her.

'What… what is wrong?' she thought, 'What's happening to me?'

"Finally, it's about time he got here!" 6-2-7 suddenly shouted as he looked eagerly into the dense forest.

Angel looked over toward the woods just as Stitch burst into sight. A small smile crept onto her face as she watched her buchi-boo skid to a halt in the sand, the blaster gripped tightly in his paw.

"You're amazingly slow, 6-2-6," mocked 6-2-7, "You know I could have taken off with your precious female here if I had wanted too. Fortunately for you you're the one I want."

"I'll give you one chance to let her go, 6-2-7. If you don't, I'll just have to pulverize you." said Stitch with a very authoritative tone.

"You must be crazy, do you really think I'll just hand her over without a fight?" laughed 6-2-7 as he began cracking his knuckles. "I've waited so long for this moment, I'm not going to pass it up!"

Stitch smirked and raised the blaster up toward 6-2-7. "And I won't pass up the chance to kick your can again!"

With that Stitch pulled the trigger and sent a blast of red plasma streaking toward 6-2-7. But the evil experiment leapt into the air and out of the way, allowing the plasma to strike just a few feet from Angel. Laughing manically 6-2-7 dove down toward Stitch, claws bared and ready. With a smirk still on his face Stitch raised the blaster up and fired shot after shot toward his opponent, but the cone-headed experiment expertly weaved between every one. 6-2-7 was now within striking distance forcing Stitch to leap away out onto a rock in the middle of the water as 6-2-7's claws slammed into the ground. Hoping to catch him off guard Stitch began firing into the cloud of dust kicked up by 6-2-7's attack. Suddenly, as the first few shots cut through the cloud, 6-2-7 burst out and charged right toward Stitch.

Stitch continued to fire but just as before 6-2-7 dodged every blast, sending Stitch leaping to another rock as 6-2-7 brought his claws down toward him. 6-2-7 continued to chase Stitch about the bay in this fashion. The two of them leapt from rock to rock, trying to land a hit on each other. Finally, instead of leaping away Stitch leapt toward 6-2-7, catching him off guard and forcing him to stop short. But as he did Stitch bound from rock to rock until he was right behind the evil experiment. 6-2-7 quickly wiped around to face Stitch as he took aim just a few feet away. 6-2-7's evil grin stretched even further as he watched Stitch's finger squeeze down on the trigger, already this fight was better than he had hoped. Everything seemed to slow down as Stitch launched a blast of plasma straight at 6-2-7's face, his own toothy grin widening with excitement.

The amorphous blob of energy seemed to hang in mid-air as the two experiments grinned at one another. Time suddenly returned as 6-2-7 ducked backwards, dodging the blast of plasma, but as he did he raised his paw and fired his own shot of plasma right at Stitch. However, Stitch expertly dodged his shot with the same technique. 6-2-7 back flipped away onto another rock, ready to attack again. Stitch did the same except instead of landing he pushed off the rock and leapt over 6-2-7's head. The con-headed experiment gasped as Stitch landed directly behind him, even closer than before. This time he had no time to turn around; he could only look over his shoulder as Stitch pulled the trigger.

"Got ya." grinned Stitch as he clicked the trigger back.

6-2-7's eyes widened, expecting to see the blast of red plasma leave the gun, but to both of their confusion, nothing happened. "What the hell?" blurted Stitch as he clicked the trigger over and over again.

With a quick glance he could see that there was still plasma in the gun, but it was jammed! It didn't take long for 6-2-7 to realize what had happened and so he quickly seized the moment. The crimson experiment spun around and slapped the blaster right out of Stitch's grasp, sending it splashing into the water some distance away.

"Now I've got you." said 6-2-7 with a devilish grin.

**Well that's the end of this chapter; I had hoped to wrap up both battles in this chapter. But that would have made this chapter unbearably long, so I've broken it in two. So instead of one more chapter to go, there are two. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. Please review.**


	7. On Deaths Door

The Three Demons: Trial

By: Kioko the pirate

Chapter 7: On Deaths Door

Stitch's eyes widened as 6-2-7 raised his fist and sent it flying at him. In an instant the powerful experiment sent Stitch skipping across the top of the water and onto the beach, where the little blue experiment dug a trench in the sand before coming to a stop. Stitch clenched his teeth and let out a pained moan as he raised a paw and rubbed his cheek. But he had little time to nurse his wound as 6-2-7 sent a blast of plasma straight at him. The blue experiment barely managed to back-flip out of the way of the blast. Stitch then took off running down the beach, evading blast after blast of 6-2-7's plasma. He had to think of some way to beat his much stronger cousin, or at the very least neutralize him long enough to get Angel out of danger.

But 6-2-7 was not about to let him have time to think it out. Stitch suddenly skidded to a stop as 6-2-7 leapt in front of him and took a swipe at him with his razor sharp claws. With a gasp Stitch leaned back and out of the way of the attack, but before he could do anything else the evil experiment caught him under the chin with an upper cut. Stitch was sent soaring into the air and then crashed into the sand several feet away. The little blue experiment began to push himself up but suddenly found 6-2-7's foot coming down on his chest.

"You know I just love watching the great 6-2-6 crushed, both figuratively and literally," said 6-2-7 as he pressed his foot harder onto Stitch's chest, squeezing the breath from his lungs, "do you know just how pathetic you are?"

"I'm not as pathetic as you may think." smirked Stitch even though nearly all of his breathe was gone.

6-2-7 just raised an eyebrow before Stitch's fist shot up and smashed into the evil experiment's groin. Despite all of his power 6-2-7 found himself biting his lower lip in pain. The cone-headed experiment fell backwards onto the ground, holding him self and breathing heavily. Even though Stitch didn't like resorting to such cowardly tactics he used to the time bought to scramble to his feet and run to Angel. The female experiment's face brightened as her buchi-boo crossed the water and knelt down in front of her. With a sense of urgency Stitch took Angel by her shoulders and helped her up.

"Are you ok, I'm sorry it took me so long to get here." said Stitch with a light smirk.

Angel gave a gentle nod. "I'm fine." she smiled.

"You've got blood at the corner of your mouth." blurted Stitch as he raised a paw and wiped the blood from her fur.

"It's nothing, I just bit my cheek when he tossed me on this rock." lied Angel, trying to keep him from worrying any more about her.

"Come on, let's get out of here. We have to get back and help Lilo fight the bounty hunter."

"Lilo's fighting the bounty hunter?" exclaimed Angel, her ears shooting upwards in surprise.

"Yeah, she thinks she can handle him, but I'm not so sure," Stitch reached toward Angel to pick her up, "So we have to hurry."

But just as he took a hold of Angel a blast of plasma struck him from behind and slammed him into the side of Tokajo's ship. Angel shrieked and fell on her butt as she watched Stitch's smoldering body bounce off the hull and fall to rock below the ship.

"You're not going anywhere, 6-2-6," snarled 6-2-7 as he slowly got to his feet, one paw still holding his groin, "If you think I'd let you escape after such a dirty trick you're crazy! Though I got to admit that I'm impressed that the goody-goody 6-2-6 would use such a underhanded attack."

Stitch was silent for a moment as he slowly began to move. 6-2-7's upgraded plasma hadn't lost any of its bite since their first fight. That horrible, burning pain once again coursed through his small body, zapping him of strength. He could smell his burnt fur and flesh, he would never admit it, but at that moment he regretted taking on 6-2-7. But there was no time to be regretting anything, if he didn't get up and keep fighting he may lose Angel forever and Lilo… Lilo may get hurt.

'I don't care if this guy is my superior,' thought Stitch as he clenched his teeth and pushed himself up to his knees, forcing himself through the pain, 'I'll show him what happens to people who mess with my ohana!'

"I'm glad to see that you're still stubborn." laughed 6-2-7.

"Shut up, you cone-headed freak," snapped Stitch as he got up to his feet, "Don't use that tone with me. You haven't won yet."

6-2-7 grinned. "You're right, I haven't won yet, but I will, it's inevitable. By design I am superior, and so by design I will beat you."

"We'll just see about that!" yelled Stitch before leaping backwards onto Tokajo's ship.

With one mighty push Stitch launched himself over the water and straight at 6-2-7. The crimson experiment just grinned as Stitch cocked his fist back and swung at his head. But the evil experiment just ducked under the attack with an amused chuckle. Stitch then flipped over in mid air, landed and launched himself at 6-2-7 once again. He sent another punch right at 6-2-7's cheek, but to his surprise the cone-headed experiment didn't even try to stop it. Stitch's fist slammed right into his cheek and yet 6-2-7 didn't move an inch.

"I told you, my victory is inevitable!" shouted 6-2-7 as he threw his own punch at Stitch.

Stitch barley managed to react in time to dodge the blow, but before he could recover 6-2-7 sent another fist right at him. This time Stitch could only raise his arms up in front of his face to block the attack. But it did little good, 6-2-7's overwhelming strength sent him flying down the beach. However, Stitch managed to slam his feet into the sand and bring himself to a stop. He quickly lowered his arms and charged back toward his opponent, but before he could take more than a few steps 6-2-7 landed in front of him and sent a flurry of punches his way. Stitch quickly began ducking, weaving and sidestepping as 6-2-7 used all six of his arms to attack. Stitch expertly dodged each punch until finally he saw a small opening. In a flash Stitch cut through 6-2-7's attack and smashed his fist right into the evil experiment's nose.

6-2-7's attack stopped and for a second it looked like the hit might have done some damage. But with a sudden burst of laughter 6-2-7 grabbed Stitch by the wrist and drove his remaining five fists into Stitch's gut. A mix of spit and blood spewed from Stitch's mouth as 6-2-7 withdrew his fists, leaving Stitch's gut imprinted with the shapes of his fists.

"Stitch!" cried Angel as she watched 6-2-7 fling him back down to the other end of the beach.

Stitch slammed into the sand like a rag doll, bouncing a few times before sliding to a stop face down. 6-2-7 quickly ran over to where his predecessor had landed. "Are you finished yet, 6-2-6?" laughed 6-2-7 as he bent down to grab Stitch by the shoulder.

Then, all of a sudden, Stitch elbow shot up and drilled into 6-2-7's right eye. The crimson experiment gave a painful yell and stumbled backwards, holding his eye. In the mean time Stitch leapt up to his feet, blood now running from his mouth, turned and drove his foot into 6-2-7's chest. Caught off balance, Stitch's kick sent 6-2-7 flying into the bay and right into a rock, obliterating it in an instant.

"I… got you now… 6-2-7." said Stitch weakly as he held his gut.

A second later 6-2-7 erupted from the water, his breathing heavy and his right eye held closed. "Relying on those cheap tricks again, eh? Don't go thinking you're big and bad yet, 6-2-6. This fight's barely begun!"

Meanwhile, back at the house, Lilo was in constant movement as she sidestepped, and retreated from Tokajo's vicious sword swipes. The bounty hunter had an all too pleased grin on his face as he swung his blade over and over again at the young girl. The fight had become completely one sided, his ferocious style kept his opponent on the defensive and gave her no time to use her alchemy. With a quick gasp Lilo ducked under one of Tokajo's backhanded swings, leaving only a few pieces of hair to be severed by his blade. But as she ducked she spun to the side, stood up, and delivered a punch right to the side of Tokajo's face. Unfortunately, the girl's human strength barely fazed the much stronger alien.

With a small laugh Tokajo turned toward her and stabbed at her with his sword. Once again, the girl spun to the side and avoided the lethal blow while bringing her leg up and kicking Tokajo right in the head, but even her kicks did very little damage. Instantly, Tokajo spun around with another slash of his sword, however Lilo managed to back flip out of range.

'Damn it,' thought Lilo as she gritted her teeth, 'I'm not strong enough to do anything to him. It feels like I'm just punching a wall. I won't get anywhere at this rate, I have to figure out a way to use my alchemy more often.'

"Feeling nervous yet," blurted Tokajo with a small smirk, "You're obviously not strong enough to beat me by hand and you have no weapons. Ordinarily, I'd be telling you to give up, but I can tell just by the look in your eyes that you won't even consider it."

"Damn right," snapped Lilo, "besides, I don't have to use my fists or any weapons. Not when I have alchemy!" shouted Lilo as she began to draw another circle on the ground.

"Oh no you don't, I won't let you have the time to use that power of yours!"

Tokajo then pulled out a small black ball from one of his pockets and threw it to the ground in front of Lilo. The small ball exploded into a thick cloud of purple smoke that quickly engulfed the girl. Lilo stopped her drawing and raised her arm to her mouth, not sure if the smoke was poisonous or not. She quickly began to look around, still holding her arm over her mouth. Suddenly, as she looked forward, the shimmering tip of Tokajo's blade cut through the smoke, aiming right for her head. Lilo's eyes widened as she ducked and rolled out of the way, but she wasn't fast enough to avoid the blade entirely. The very edge of the sword cut into her shoulder as she rolled out of the smoke.

The young girl clenched her teeth from the pain as she came to a stop outside the still lingering cloud. Her face went white as she put her hand on her wounded shoulder and felt the blood. She wasn't used to such injuries, which made them feel far worse than they were. She slowly removed her hand from her shoulder and looked down at the blood that covered it, a queasy feeling settled in her stomach. Then, like a bullet, it hit her… she could be killed. The whole fight she had the idea that since she was the good guy, she wouldn't be killed. But now it seemed all too possible that her life might end.

She was then snapped back to reality as Tokajo burst from the cloud and charged her with his sword extended like a spear. For a moment Lilo was paralyzed with fear, she could hardly breathe. She no longer saw a bounty hunter coming toward her; she could only see death itself coming closer and closer. But then, just as suddenly as the fear had hit her another revelation took its place. One wound did not spell her demise, she could choose whether or not she lived or died, she wasn't helpless anymore. Right now she couldn't afford to die, leaving her with just once choice. Tokajo's blade was just inches away from skewering her, but Lilo quickly raised her leg and brought her foot down on the blade. Tokajo gasped as his blade was driven to the ground. He was so surprised that he barely managed to raise his arm up to block the kick that Lilo sent right at him.

However his surprise was short lived as he quickly threw a punch right at Lilo's chest. The young girl managed to cross her arms over her chest just in time to block the heavy blow. The force of Tokajo's punch sent Lilo flying under the garage overhang where she slammed into the back of Nani's jeep. Lilo let out a painful yelp as she fell to the ground, but she had no time to stay down. As soon as she looked back at Tokajo she had to roll out of the way as three spiked chains shot out from his gauntlet and pierced the back of the jeep. Recognizing a chance to put some distance between her and her opponent Lilo scrambled to her feet and took off running into the backyard.

"Don't think that running will help you," said Tokajo as he yanked on his chains, tearing the whole back end of the jeep off, "you can't escape me for long."

The bounty hunter casually walked into the backyard and stopped to look around. He couldn't tell which way the girl had gone so he kept his eyes and ears open for any sign of her. All of a sudden, a burst of blue light to his left caught his attention. He looked over just in time to see it fade away beyond the other side of the house.

"Found you." he said with a toothy grin.

Keeping his casual pace Tokajo walked over to where the light had faded and peeked around the corner. But just as he did a flash of metal caught his eye forcing him to leap back several feet. As he landed he saw lilo walk around from the side of the house a smirk on her face and, to his surprise, a crude katana-like sword in her hand.

"Where the hell did you get that?" snapped Tokajo.

Lilo chuckled and rested the blade on her shoulder. "I just happened to find some old pipes buried in the grass next to the house."

"And you used that alchemy of yours to make a sword?"

"Correct."

"But you couldn't possibly make a decent sword out of old pipes."

"I'm not so sure, I think your cheek is evidence enough that it's got a good edge to it." smiled Lilo as she pointed to Tokajo's cheek.

A confused look crossed the swordsman's face as he raised a hand to his cheek. He gasped as he found blood running from a cut on his cheek, she'd cut him without him even realizing it. Back up in the house Jumba and Pleakly, who along with Nani had run to the back of the house, cheered happily at the turn of events.

"Little girl has got good brain in her head! Now she has way to level the battlefield." smiled Jumba.

"Yeah, now she can give that Tokajo guy a dose of his own medicine!" shouted Pleakly as he threw his fist in the air.

"Your both lolo," snapped Nani angrily, "she's still in danger out there! My god she's even been hurt!" yelled Nani as she spotted the bloody spot on her sister's shoulder.

"It is not a major injury," said Jumba as he looked down on it, "little girl will be fine. Once she beats bounty hunter Jumba will be able to heal it like nothing ever was happening."

"You better be right, fat man!"

Back on the other side of the house the kids remained seated in a circle in the middle of the living room. All of their ears hung down by the shoulders and their heads hung even lower. "I really hope Dad can get Mommy back, I don't want her to disappear again." sniffled Kina as he wiped some tears from his eyes.

"Me neither." added Ashley as she slowly rubbed her leg.

"I hate this so much," barked Oki as he slammed his fist into the floor, causing the whole room to shake, "I hate just sitting here doing nothing!"

"None of us like it, Oki," said Ashley, "but there isn't anything we can do."

"Yeah, we're still too young to help." said Kina with another sniffle.

"I don't believe that!" yelled Oki as he shot to his feet, "The last time Mom got kidnapped we were barely half the size that mom and Dad are. But now we're only what… an inch shorter? We're practically all grown up and I," Oki paused and clenched his fists, "I think it's time we started acting grown up!"

"You're not acting very grown up right now." blurted Kina.

"Shut up! Now the last time this happened all we could do was sit around, but not this time! We're strong now; Dad hasn't beaten us at wrestling in like forever! I say that this time we get off our butts and help!"

Kina and Ashley were silent as they looked between each other and Oki. The whole idea seemed too crazy even for Oki, but at the same time it made sense. They weren't that little any more and if there was even the tiniest thing they could do to help get their Mom back there was no reason not to do it. Finally, a stern look appeared on each of their faces as they got to their feet.

"Ok, let's do it! Let's help rescue Mom!" shouted Ashley eagerly.

"Yeah," shouted Kina, "but shouldn't we help Aunt Lilo first?"

Oki looked over where the rest of the family had run, Jumba and Pleakley were still cheering Lilo's name. "It doesn't sound like she needs any."

"Well maybe one of us should stay here just in case she does?" suggested Ashley.

Oki just shook his head. "None of us have been in a real fight before, it'd be best if all of us were there to back one another up."

"So then we go help Dad save Mom and then come back and help Aunt Lilo?" asked Kina.

"Right, so then come on, we have to hurry," said Oki as he turned and ran to the front door, "we can't let the other grown-ups see us leave."

Kina and Ashley both nodded and quickly leapt through the doggy door, followed closely by their older brother. Back outside Lilo and Tokajo were at a standoff, both waiting for the others first move.

"So you have a sharp sword," Tokajo finally said with a smirk, "that doesn't mean you know how to use it. Swords are not toys for little girls to play with. If you don't know how to handle one properly you'll die."

Lilo just gave a huff. "I may not be an expert with a sword, but I'm pretty sure I know enough to beat you!" shouted Lilo before charging her opponent.

"We'll just see about that!" replied the bounty hunter as he brought his sword down onto Lilo's.

Sparks went flying in all directions as their swords crashed together over and over again. The two practically danced around the backyard as they slashed and parried each other's blows. Lilo was actually surprised by her own skill, nowhere in her alchemy book did it cover sword fighting and yet she handled her self excellently. But skill was only part of the fight; even with a sword Tokajo was still far stronger than she was. This became abundantly clear as she raised her sword over her head to block his sword. With just one arm the bounty hunter began to push the young Hawaiian back toward the house. Lilo strained to keep his blade from cutting her in two until finally she managed to sidestep out from under his blade. Tokajo's sword crashed into the earth as Lilo brought her own sword slashing across the bounty hunters side.

Tokajo clenched his teeth in pain as the blade cut deep into his body, sending blood flying into the air. But as the blade left it's target Tokajo spun around and caught Lilo's face with his foot. Lilo was sent spiraling into the air before slamming to the ground several yards away. As Lilo slid to a stop the swordsman leapt high into the air, pointing his blade down he intended to impale her where she lay. But as he came down upon her the young alchemist rolled backwards onto her feet and leapt away. Tokajo slammed to the ground just as Lilo came to a stop a few feet away. The bounty hunter looked over just in time to see Lilo quickly carving a transmutation circle into the ground with the tip of her sword.

Before he could move the girl completed the circle, stabbed her sword into the ground and slapped her hands down onto the circle. In a flash of light two giant slabs of earth rose up on either side of Tokajo and then smashed together, just as she had done with 6-2-7.

"Did I get him?" asked Lilo quietly to herself as she stared into the cloud of dust kicked up by her attack.

Suddenly, a movement above her caught her attention. Lilo quickly looked up to see Tokajo soaring high above her, she could also see him reach into one of his pockets. A moment later the bounty hunter flung several spinning blades, shaped like crescent moons down at her. Lilo quickly leapt backwards as the blades cut into the ground around her. However, she miscounted and a blade she had not seen stabbed into her leg. She winced as she landed on her now injured leg and cried out as she grabbed hold of the blade and yanked it from her leg, cutting her hand in the process. Just then, Tokajo landed right in front of her and stabbed his blade right at her head. Once again Lilo ducked underneath the attack, wincing again from her new injury, and then brought her own blade forward. Tokajo gritted his teeth as his other side was split open. Like the last time he quickly spun around with a kick, but this time Lilo stayed low and avoided his attack.

'Damn it,' thought Tokajo as he watched Lilo retreat a few yards and then turn toward him, waiting for his next move, 'why can't I kill her? She's only human!'

Across the island Stitch wasn't having the luck that Lilo was. The absolute difference in strength that 6-2-7 had mentioned was making itself all too apparent. Stitch was battered and bloody while 6-2-7 barely had a scratch. Angel looked on with fear in her eyes as her buchi-boo was smacked around the beach like a punching bag. She had to look away as 6-2-7 kicked Stitch in the gut and sent him skipping down the beach. Stitch barely managed to scramble to his feet as the evil experiment chased after him. The little blue experiment raised a clawed hand and brought it down as 6-2-7 slid to a stop in front of him. But before his razor sharp claws could make contact, 6-2-7 caught his wrist and drove a knee into his stomach. Once again spit and blood was ejected from Stitch's mouth as he was sent flying out into the bay. The mangled experiment slammed through several rocks before becoming lodged in one.

Stitch could hardly see straight, his breathing was labored, and his body was racked with pain. Blood oozed from his mouth and from open wounds all over his body, he could barely move. Even so he managed to turn his head slowly so that he was facing Angel. The pink experiment was staring at him with terror in her eyes and was shaking all over.

'It can't end like this,' thought Stitch, 'I can't let it end like this. I have to save Angel, I have to save Lilo… I have to save my family. But my body… it won't move.' Images of him and Angel strolling along the beach, kissing under the stars, and holding each other so close began to run through his mind. 'Angel, I wish you didn't have to see me like this. I hate seeing how much it scares you.' Now images of days long ago filled his mind. This time it was he and Lilo, running around the island, building sandcastles, catching experiments, and just plain causing havoc. 'And I'm glad you aren't here to see this, Lilo. I hate to think how this would make you worry.'

'No, there'd be no reason for you to worry," Stitch thought loudly in his head as he clenched his fists, 'I'm not going to lose. I'm not going to die here, not in front of Angel! And I'm not going to die without helping Lilo!'

"This is the end of the line, 6-2-6," grinned 6-2-7, "it's been fun but I think it's about time to send you to the pits of hell! Goodbye, 6-2-6!" yelled 6-2-7 as he shot out into the bay, his claws cocked back, ready to impale the blue experiment.

But just as his claws were about to pierce into Stitch's flesh the blue experiment clenched his teeth and leapt to the side. Stitch landed safely on a rock a few feet away as 6-2-7's claws cut into the rock like a hot knife through butter. "So, you still have a little strength left in you?" smiled 6-2-7 as he slowly withdrew his claws from the rock.

"I've still got… more than enough strength… to beat you." said Stitch through heavy breathes.

"How wonderful, you just keep making this more and more fun!" laughed 6-2-7 as he turned and charged Stitch once again.

'It's a long shot, but I have to try and end this with one last punch,' thought Stitch as he clenched his fist and cocked it back, 'I can't afford to have this fight go on any longer!'

With a maniacal laugh 6-2-7 threw a punch right at Stitch's face but it was cut short as Stitch drove his own fist into 6-2-7's nose. Stitch let out a ferocious growl as he put every last bit of his strength into his punch. The cone-headed experiment was stopped dead in his tracks, his face contorted with pain. A small smirk found its way onto Stitch lips, as it seemed his punch had worked. But suddenly his wrist was grabbed by 6-2-7, who proceeded to crush it in his grip. Stitch let out a terrible yell before being kicked right in the gut and sent crashing into the rock right in front of Angel.

"What did I tell you, 6-2-6," laughed 6-2-7 as he casually leapt over in front of Stitch, "Our strength is absolute. No matter how hard you try your punches will never get any stronger! Face it, you can't beat me, no one can!"

Just then, three little heads popped out from the bushes on the other side of the bay. "Found them!" exclaimed Oki.

"What's going on I can't tell from here?" asked Kina as he squinted his eyes.

"It looks like Mom's still tied up and… Dad looks pretty messed up." said Ashley as her ears fell.

"It's that cone-headed guy that did it!" growled Kina.

"Yeah, so what are we waiting for, let's go show him that no one messes with our Mom and Dad and gets away with it!" shouted Oki as he threw his fist into the air.

"Yeah!" cried Kina and Ashley in unison before running off with their brother.

"Look at it this way, 6-2-6" smiled 6-2-7 as he raised his paw up toward Stitch, "at least you get to die in battle, instead of sitting around and letting your body whither away. For an experiment like you such a fate would be disgraceful." 6-2-7's paw began to glow green as it became enshrouded in plasma. "I really am doing you a favor, it's a shame that you don't realize it. Now, at long last, I can say… goodbye, 6-2-6!"

6-2-7's grin widened as he readied to blast the helpless 6-2-6. "Hey you big cone head," suddenly shouted a voice from the right side of the bay. Stitch, Angel, and 6-2-7 all looked over to see Oki standing on the beach holding a rock the size of Tokajo's ship over his head, "don't you dare touch my Mom and Dad!"

Without any difficulty at all Oki flung the monstrous piece of rock right at 6-2-7. "What?" shouted 6-2-7 in surprise before quickly leaping away as the slab of stone smashed into the water just feet from Stitch and Angel. The evil experiment landed smoothly on the beach, a confused look on his face as he starred across the bay at his attacker.

"Sorry!" called Oki when he saw that he had accidentally soaked his Mom and Dad.

"O…Oki, what are you doing here?" blurted Angel, a shocked expression on her face.

"I didn't want to just sit around, I wanted to come and help!" said the boy with a smile on his face.

"I told you… to… stay at home." said Stitch weakly.

"I know, and I'm sorry, Dad. But I really wanted to help get Mom back! I didn't want to just sit around like the last time." Oki said as his ears fell to his shoulders.

"Dad? Mom? I see, this is very interesting," 6-2-7 laughed suddenly, "the great 6-2-6 had offspring while I was away. How wonderful, this day just keeps getting better and better! Not only do I get a chance to kill 6-2-6, but I also get a chance to kill his child as well!"

"Don't you lay a single paw on him!" snapped Angel, her motherly instinct overriding her fear.

"Oh don't worry, I won't lay a single paw on him… I'll lay all six!" shouted 6-2-7 excitedly as he blasted off from the beach heading right for Oki. "Now watch as I slay your precious child, 6-2-6!" laughed 6-2-7 as he cocked his fist back.

"Get out of there!" screamed Angel while Stitch's eyes widened in horror.

With a maniacal laugh 6-2-7 threw his punch right at Oki, but in an instant the boy raised a paw and caught his punch as if it were nothing. "What the hell?" shouted 6-2-7 as he felt Oki grab hold of his fist.

Both Stitch and Angel's jaws dropped as they watched their oldest son hold the mighty 6-2-7 at bay. "Was that it?" asked Oki as he cocked his head to the side. "That's how strong you are? Wow, this won't be hard at all."

6-2-7's eyes widened as Oki quickly cocked his own fist back and let it fly right into 6-2-7's cheek. Blood and spit went flying as the cone-headed experiment was sent rocketing across the bay, smashing right through the stone Oki had thrown and continuing on before smashing into the forest. Stitch and Angel were awe-struck as Oki brushed off his fist and then hopped over to them.

"Oki… honey… that was amazing." said Angel as her son landed next to her and grabbed her tight in his arms.

"That was nothing. I'm just so glad your safe, Mom." whimpered Oki as he nuzzled Angel's cheek.

A giant smile crossed the pink experiment's face as she nuzzled her son back. After a moment Oki let go of Angel and walked over to Stitch. "Dad, you don't look so good." said Oki flatly.

"You don't say?" replied Stitch with a small growl.

"Did you come here all by yourself, Oki?" asked Angel.

"Nope," exclaimed another voice from above. Angel quickly looked up to see Ashley peeking down on them from on top of Tokajo's ship. "I'm here too!" she smiled before leaping down next to her Brother and Mother.

Like Oki she quickly hugged Angel tightly. "I was so scared we weren't going to find you in time!" exclaimed Ashley as she let go of her hug.

"Well don't worry, I'm safe now." said Angel with a heavenly smile.

Ashley just smiled back before noticing Stitch. "Oh my god," blurted the girl as she ran over to her Fathers side, "Dad you're hurt!"

"I'm… fine, sweety," Stitch said with a soft smile, "it looks worse than it is."

"So, you have a daughter too?" 6-2-7's voice rang out from the other side of the bay. "You and 6-2-4 must have been fucking like crazy."

"Ashley, try and get Mom out of that glowing light thingy, I'll hold him off." instructed Oki as she positioned himself between his family and 6-2-7.

"Hold me off? Foolish child, you may have caught me by surprise the first time," 6-2-7 took off running toward the four of them and leapt up into the air, "but this time I'm ready for you!"

Oki readied his fist as 6-2-7 came down upon him, but before he could throw it a light blue fist intercepted 6-2-7. With another blow to the cheek 6-2-7 was sent skipping across the water and into the beach. "Weren't ready for me though were ya?" snapped Kina before blowing a raspberry at the evil experiment.

"Kina? You're here too?" said Angel as her youngest son joined them on the rock.

"All three of us came, Mom. We weren't sure how hard it would be to save you, so to be safe we all came."

"But by the looks of it, I can handle Mr. Weak-Punch by myself," boasted Oki with a toothy grin. "You've hit me harder than he did, Kina."

"Lilo, what about your… Aunt Lilo? Is she alright?" asked Stitch concernedly.

"She was still fighting that bounty hunter man when we left. But it sounded like she was winning by the way Grandpa Jumba and Pleakley were cheering." said Ashley as she continued to try and find some way to remove Angel's bindings.

Stitch let out a sigh and closed his eyes. "That's good news. I guess Lilo really is tougher than I thought."

"Uh oh, Mr. Sissy is up again." said Oki as he watched 6-2-7 pull himself up out of the trench he had dug into the sand.

"Damn it! How many of those little bastards are there? Tell me, 6-2-6, just how many little fur balls did you make 6-2-4 squeeze out?" snarled 6-2-7 as he got up onto his feet and wiped the blood from his mouth.

"There's just the three," smiled Stitch, "they're triplets. Oki there is the oldest, then there's Ashley, and finally our youngest, Kina."

"I didn't ask for their names," snapped 6-2-7, "I just wanted to know how many there were for me to kill."

"You won't beat them, 6-2-7." blurted Angel with a proud tone in her voice.

"And why is that?"

"Because, you said it yourself, we experiments have built in limits on our strength. You have twice the strength that Stitch does, which means your limit is 6,000 times your own weight. However, when Jumba measured their strength… Oki has a limit of 8,000 times his own weight, Kina's limit is 7,000 times his own weight, and Ashley's limit is 4,000 times her own weight." explained Angel.

"Well at least I'm stronger than the girl." muttered 6-2-7.

"However, because they are not technically experiments, they can push beyond those limits. They can keep getting stronger, unlike you. So just give up, you'll never win now!"

6-2-7 was silent for a moment before suddenly bursting into a fit of laughter. "What an idiotic idea! To think that mere children could beat me, I think the stress has gone to your head! I am the great 6-2-7, I am unbeatable!"

Without another word 6-2-7 charged across the bay, all six paws ready to tear into flesh. "Hey, Oki, doesn't this remind you of that one fight from episode 63?" asked Kina casually as he watched 6-2-7 get closer.

"You mean when Daruto and Toskue are fighting against Ichibaku?"

"Yeah, how about we reenact that scene right now?"

Oki turned and looked toward 6-2-7, who was now almost on top of them. "Sounds good to me!"

With that the two boys cocked their fists back and right as 6-2-7 was about to tear into them they let loose. Their fists both slammed right into 6-2-7's face, sending the evil experiment rocketing back toward the beach. But before he got very far Oki leapt from the rock and rushed ahead, coming to a stop right in 6-2-7's path. Then, like a soccer star, Oki kicked the cone-headed experiment straight up toward a waiting Kina. A punch from the young boy sent 6-2-7 streaking back towards Oki. The oldest Brother smirked as he raised his elbow up toward 6-2-7, who proceeded to slam into it with devastating force. 6-2-7's breath was knocked clean out of him as Oki's elbow drove deep into his gut. But before the crimson experiment could recover Oki grabbed hold of one of his arms and began to spin him around.

Stitch couldn't believe what he was seeing; his little boys were completely overpowering the opponent that he could barely scratch. He had known for a long time that they were stronger than he was, but never had he imagined that it would be made so obvious. He felt his fists tighten as a small spark of jealousy ignited with in him; he was being out done again. At that moment Oki finally let 6-2-7 go and sent him flying right toward Kina, who had landed on a rock in the middle of the bay. Kina crouched down and right as 6-2-7 flew over him, he went into a handstand and caught the evil experiment under the arms with his feet. Then, like a pro wrestler, Kina drove 6-2-7 head first into the rock shattering it like glass.

The young boy quickly leapt away as pieces of rock and water fell onto 6-2-7's seemingly lifeless body. "Yeah, we got him!" cheered Oki as he hopped over next to Kina.

"That was… fun!" smiled Kina as he tried to catch his breathe.

"That's what he gets for messing with our ohana!" added Oki as he raised his fist triumphantly.

"Hey Ashley, you got Mom out yet?" asked Kina as he turned toward his sister.

"Almost," replied the girl as he tried to dig her claws into a small gap she had found in the sphere. After a moment, however, she let out a frustrated sigh. "This isn't working! Wait a minute, I got an idea. Mom I need you to hold real still, ok?"

"What are you gonna do?" asked Angel as she looked over her shoulder.

"You'll see." said Ashley as she raised her one clawed paw into the air. In a flash Ashley brought her claws down across the sphere, tearing it to shreds. The rings of light around Angel's body flickered and faded away as the metal sphere fell into the water. "When finesse fails, use force. That's what Uncle Kioko was always telling us. " smiled Ashley.

"That feels so much better," smiled Angel as she stretched her arms and legs, "now come on, help me get your father up and lets get out of here." instructed Angel.

The kids all nodded and moved to help their wounded Dad, but as they did the sound of growling caught their ears. All of them looked over to see 6-2-7 rising to his feet, blood running from his nose, mouth, and even his ears. "This isn't… over… you little pieces of shit!"

"This guy won't give up!" exclaimed Ashley with surprise.

"I'm going to kill all of you, damn the mission, I will not let myself by defeated by the likes of you!" snarled 6-2-7 as he started running towards them.

"Kids remember that little move you were doing with the pillows that I told you to stop doing?" asked Angel with a sly smirk on her face.

"Yeah." all three of them answered.

"Go ahead and use it."

All the kids gave toothy smiles before racing out to intercept 6-2-7. The evil experiment gasped and stopped in his tracks as the kids surrounded him. Then, before he could do anything, the kids rushed forward and simultaneously kicked 6-2-7 straight up into the air. He managed to cross his arms over his chest and reduce the damage, but it did little good. As he soared upward the kids all leapt up into the air and managed to catch up to him. His eyes widened as all three of them raised their legs above him. Suddenly, a loud bang echoed through the area as the three kids brought their legs down onto 6-2-7's back, sending him shooting down toward the ground and breaking the sound barrier in the process.

Both Stitch and Angel raised their arms in front of their faces as 6-2-7's impact sent water flying everywhere. A moment later they lowered their arms to find the kids standing at the edge of the crater where an unconscious and barely alive 6-2-7 now lay.

"That ought to do it!" cheered Oki.

"Hold on, we need to make sure he doesn't get up again." said Ashley as she came forward holding the plasma gun. She took aim and with a single pull of the trigger hit 6-2-7 with a blast of plasma, returning him to his pod state in a flash of light.

"Finally," said Angel with a relieved sigh, "it's over."

"Not yet it's not," blurted Stitch as he forced himself painfully up to his feet, "we still need to go help Lilo. Grab 6-2-7 and let's go, we don't have time to lose."

Back at the house the fight had returned to the front of the house. Lilo and Tokajo continued to exchange blows with their weapons, but the battle continued to take a toll on the inexperienced girl. Her arms were becoming tired and harder to move. Her strikes were growing weaker and she knew she couldn't hold the bounty hunter off much longer. She winced as one of Tokajo's powerful swings caused her to stumble backwards, forcing her to use her sword like a cane to brace herself.

"You've reached your limit, girl," said Tokajo, who even then wasn't out of breathe, "your swings are becoming weak and inaccurate. Your arms and legs are starting to shake, and your obviously having trouble catching your breath. I suggest that since your body is going to give out soon anyway, that you surrender and let me end your misery."

Even though she was exhausted Lilo managed to crack a smile and raise her sword back up toward Tokajo. "I may… be tired but… you are more injured than I am. You should be… the one surrendering."

"Are you kidding," laughed Tokajo as he rested the blade of his sword on his shoulder, "these wounds that you inflicted on me are nothing! Sure they may be fatal to you humans, but I am of a superior species, I can survive injuries that would kill a creature like you in an instant. The blood of two species course through my veins, each of them has evolved beyond such a fragile existence. So don't kid yourself, you'll die long before I do."

Lilo clenched her teeth and tightened her grip on her sword. "I'm not going to let you take Angel away from us… you'll be the only one to die here today!"

With a rebellious yell Lilo charged the bounty hunter, the tip of her sword pointed right at his chest. Mustering as much of her remaining strength as she could Lilo drove the sword toward it's target, but before it could strike Tokajo brought down his sword and blocked the stab with the broad side of his blade. However, Lilo continued to push forward keeping the tip of her blade pressed firmly against Tokajo's.

"You're brave, I'll give you that," smiled Tokajo, "and while one needs bravery to conquer his opponents, he also needs skill, strength, speed, cunning, and even luck. You… have none of these."

Just then, a small cracking sound could be heard. For a moment Lilo hoped that by some miracle her blade was about to pierce his, but her hope soon vanished. With a sharp snap the blade of her sword broke in two. Her eyes widened in fear as she watched the top half of her sword fall to the ground, leaving her with little more than the grip.

"You gave me a good fight, earth girl," said Tokajo in almost a whisper, "but this is where you die."

The fear that Lilo had pushed from her mind came rushing back even stronger than before. She had to get out of there, that was her only thought. Reacting quickly she took a step backward and prepared to turn and run, but as she did Tokajo raised a gauntlet and fired one of his spiked chains. The weapon tore through Lilo's foot, effectively nailing her to the ground and leaving her to the mercy of her attacker. The world seemed to go silent as Tokajo stepped forward and brought his sword upward. Lilo's mouth fell open in a silent scream as she felt the cold blade pierce deep into her flesh. Blood, her blood, was all she could see as it flew through the air. Suddenly, she felt a heavy impact against her chest as Tokajo kicked her straight toward the garage. Lilo slammed against one of the support posts, snapping it in two like a twig before her body fell to the ground.

"Lilo!" screamed Nani at the top of her lungs as she watched from above.

A pool of crimson quickly began to spread out beneath the semi-conscious girl. She could now clearly see the wound; it stretched from her right hip all the way up to her left shoulder. Yet she could feel no pain, only a heaviness that seemed to cover her body. Just then she could see Tokajo slowly walking toward her, his blood-covered blade at his side. "Amazing, simply amazing," he blurted as he came to a stop a few yards away, "you didn't die instantly, I'm sorry about that. I'm usually able to kill someone with a cut like that, but don't worry… you'll die soon enough."

'It can't end this way,' thought Lilo as she moved her hand through the blood at her side, 'I can't let him win; I won't let him hurt my ohana. I have to save them.'

"You know, this is too cruel even for me, I can't just let you die such a slow and painful death. Not after the fight you put up. So I think I'll do you the favor of ending your life now." smiled Tokajo as he began to walk toward Lilo.

He stopped though when, to his surprise, the girl smiled and began to laugh weakly. "What is so funny?"

"I may… not be strong, fast, skilled, or even lucky," said Lilo as she looked up at the bounty hunter, "but I am cunning! And you were… stupid to lower your guard!"

Tokajo's eyes shot open as he suddenly noticed that the girl had drawn a transmutation circle next to her in her own blood! Before he could react Lilo placed her hand down on the circle and a second later an earthen spike shot out from in front of her hand. The massive spike impaled the bounty hunter through the chest and lifted him into the air. His blade fell from his hands as blood gushed from his mouth.

"Got you." whispered Lilo before falling unconscious.

"Damn you," said Tokajo as he tried to push himself off of the spike, but to no avail, "damn you… girl."

With those final words Tokajo's body fell limp leaving the battlefield completely silent and still. But only for a moment, for in that instant Nani, Jumba, and Pleakley burst from the house and headed down the front stairs. While at the same time Stitch, Angel and the kids came into view as they ran up the driveway, Stitch leading the pack.

"Lilo!" both Stitch and Nani cried as their eyes fell upon the fallen girl.

**Well that's the end of this chapter! I apologize for the length, but this part of the story has been in my mind for years and I really wanted to finish it in one chapter. Unfortunately, that may have made me rush it a little. I promise the next will be shorter; it will also be the last in this story. Please review!**


	8. Close Call

The Three Demons: Trial

By: Kioko the pirate

Chapter 8: Close Call

Night had settled on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, covering the land with a relaxed feeling. However, that feeling could not penetrate the wall of anxiety that surrounded the Pelekai household. The whole house was silent as the family waited in the living room to hear the fate of their dear Lilo. Nani was curled up at one end of the couch, tears still running from her blood shot eyes, and her hand held over her mouth as she stared off into space. Angel sat at the other end of the couch, her ears and head hung low as she slowly twiddled her thumbs. The kids all sat on the floor in front of the bookcase, all looking solemnly toward the floor; none of them had spoken a word since they saw Lilo drenched in blood. Pleakley was sitting in the reclining chair across from the couch, trying to keep his mind off the situation by organizing and reorganizing the first-aid kit he had used to patch Stitch up.

Stitch was the only one up and moving around as he paced back and forth around the room. Not knowing whether or not Lilo would live or die was tearing him apart on the inside, as it was with everyone. But Stitch was the only one taking Lilo's condition personally.

'Damn it, damn it all,' thought Stitch as he clenched his teeth in anger, 'this can't be happening. This has to be a nightmare; I'll wake up any moment now and this'll all be over.'

Stitch finally came to a stop as he rested his forehead on the wall. He looked down at the dry blood covering his paws, which turned his blue fur, a sickening black color, and winced. He then turned his head and looked down at the trial of blood that led from the front door into the hallway and up the stairs. The feeling of panic and fear that he had felt as he helped Jumba carry Lilo's lifeless body up the front stairs was still fresh in his mind.

'No, this is not a nightmare I can just wake up from,' he thought as a queasy feeling settled in his stomach, 'this is real. That's really Lilo's blood on the floor; it's really on my paws…damn it!' Stitch quickly raised his arm and covered his mouth with his forearm as he gagged. 'Why couldn't I have been stronger? If I had been stronger none of this would have happened, I would have been able to save her!'

'Why am I so weak, I was never this weak before. It's like everyone is getting stronger than me, even my damn kids. Why did this have to happen, why did Lilo have to get hurt? I can't lose her like this, not like this. If she dies I…I…'

Stitch could feel tears welling up in his eyes while at the same time all his anger and fear seemed to swell within him. Suddenly, as a single tear rolled down his cheek, Stitch lost control of his feelings and with a vicious snarl sent his fist flying through the wall. Everyone in the room was so startled they practically leapt out of their skins.

"Dammit, damn it all to hell!" snapped Stitch, his fist still in the wall. "Where's Jumba, I can't stand this waiting. I wanna know that Lilo's alright." said Stitch as more tears began to roll down his face.

"She'll be fine," blurted Nani with a sniffle, "we all know she's too stubborn to… to die like this."

Stitch pulled his fist from the wall and gave a small sniffle himself. "I hope you're right. I don't know what I'll do if I lose her."

"You and me both." agreed Nani.

"Why… why did this have to happen?" said Stitch as he clenched his teeth, trying desperately to not get choked up. "Why did she have to risk her life like that? Why?"

Suddenly, a thought entered Stitch's mind. His eyes widened as he slowly came to realize the reason Lilo acted so rashly. He realized that it was not his strength that had failed him… it was something on the outside. "You," Stitch whispered as his thoughts became more and more clear, "It wasn't my fault… it wasn't Lilo's fault," Stitch's breathing started to get shaky as did his paws, "It was your fault!" snapped Stitch furiously as he whipped around and pointed a clawed finger at Angel.

Angel gasped at the accusation, as did everyone else in the room. "Stitch I didn't…" started Angel with a look of confusion on her face.

"Shut up," barked Stitch before she could get another word out, "You just shut up! I don't care about your damn excuses! It's your fault Lilo is hurt and you know it, you all know it!" shouted Stitch as he pointed to everyone in the room.

"But Stitch…" started Angel again, this time in a more timid tone and with a frightened look on her face.

"I said shut up!" Stitch snapped once again as he glared at the female experiment. "It's all because of you, Lilo is dying because of you! If you hadn't been so god damn weak you could have kept yourself from getting taken and then Lilo wouldn't have had to fight that guy by herself! I could have been there to help her instead of wasting my time running off to save you!"

The air in the room now seemed to weigh a ton as Stitch's anger flowed forth. No one dared move or even breathe deeply for fear that some of Stitch's wrath may be directed at them. The world outside the living room seemed nonexistent as the tension created a gravity all its own. It drew everyone in even though they all undoubtedly wished they were elsewhere.

"Do you understand me?" asked Stitch, his voice quivering with rage, as he took a few steps toward Angel. "Do you?"

Angel was speechless as she began to tremble in fear. Her jaw fell open in an attempt to speak, but no words came. She had never seen Stitch so angry and so it scared her, but the fact that his anger was directed at her… made it terrifying. She tried to speak again but only a small squeak escaped her. Just then, Stitch let out a frustrated growl and leapt on to the couch next to her. Angel fell on her side toward Nani and quickly turned over on her back to face Stitch. Her whole body was now shaking as the enraged experiment stood over her.

"I said do you understand!" barked Stitch, but again Angel did not speak. "What now you don't have anything to say? Are you so pathetic that you can't even defend yourself with words?" Angel remained silent. "You know what, don't speak. Don't ever speak again! I don't want to hear your voice anymore!"

"I don't understand how I could have ever fallen for a worthless experiment like you! And now because of that mistake Lilo is holding on by a thread!"

Angel now began to slowly pull herself toward Nani, hoping that the older girl may give her some sort of protection. But her movement did not go unnoticed. "Now where do you think you're going?" yelled Stitch as he grabbed her by the foot and dragged her back to her original spot, causing Angel to yelp. "Nani isn't going to take pity on you, she knows that it's because of you that her sister is so badly hurt as does everyone in this house! That includes Lilo! And when she wakes up she'll blame this all on you too and I wouldn't be surprised if she kicks you out of this house forever! She won't want you here anymore, none of us will!"

"Stitch." suddenly whined Angel, her voice shaking as if she were about to cry.

Whether or not she meant to speak or not was irrelevant for Stitch's anger spiked nonetheless. The blue experiment gave a deep growl as he bared his teeth and clenched his fists. "I told you," said Stitch, "I never want to hear your voice again!"

Angel's eyes suddenly shot open in shear terror as she watched Stitch cock his fist back. Every heart in the room seemed to stop as Stitch took aim. Stitch's mind was blank as he looked down at the terrified 6-2-4 and so with out hesitation he began to move to strike her. But before his fist could move an inch he suddenly felt a firm grasp on his wrist. Still not thinking clearly he turned his head and looked over his shoulder. His eyes widened when he found Oki standing behind him, a stern look on his face and his paw wrapped firmly around his wrist.

The room remained still as father and son stared at one another, unblinking. Time seemed to stand still as neither Oki or Stitch averted their gazes. Then, after a few moments, Stitch eyes narrowed in anger and in the blink of an eye he whipped around and slammed his other fist into his oldest sons cheek. The sudden hit shocked everyone back into reality as a wave of gasps swept across the room. However, due to their differences in strength Stitch's hit only messed Oki's fur. The boy still had a firm grasp on his father's wrist as Stitch began to breathe heavily. It was as if that punch had expelled all or at least most of Stitch's anger, it also confirmed Stitch's fear. With that single punch he realized just how inferior his strength had become. He felt his anger welling up again as he flexed his fists, but he knew that it was just a waste of time. There was nothing he could do against his own child.

So with a quick yank Stitch ripped his wrist from Oki's grip and hopped off the couch. His head hung low as he slowly wandered to the other side of the room like a dog with its tail between its legs. Everyone in the room slowly looked away in pity, they all knew that Stitch had just been dealt a blow far worse than any 6-2-7 could give. Stitch now seemed more pathetic than ferocious as he rested his head against the wall. The anxiety that had filled the room gave way to a feeling of awkwardness; no one knew what to do. Words still felt like they would be out of place, silence seemed more appropriate. But that silence was finally broken when the sound of heavy footsteps coming down the stairs entered the room. A second later the sound was followed by Jumba, who walked casually into the room as he dabbed the sweat from his forehead with a cloth.

Every eye in the room snapped toward the large alien with eager curiosity. "How is she?" blurted Nani as she quickly got to her feet, a worried look on her face.

Jumba gave a heavy sigh as he tucked the cloth into his pants pocket. "Younger girl was being very lucky," the evil genius finally said, "she lost a lot of blood and if she had been fighting bounty hunter further from home she more than likely would not be surviving. But thankfully her proximity to home and evil geniuses ability to replicate human blood saved her."

A giant smile crossed Nani's face a long with everyone else save for Angel, who was still in shock from Stitch's yelling. "Oh thank god, thank god," sighed Nani as tears began to well up in her eyes, "thank you so much, Jumba." The older girl said as she wrapped her arms around Jumba's giant neck.

"It is being nothing, evil genius would not let any member of ohana die so easily." smiled Jumba as he patted Nani on the back. "There are being some issues though. Obvious one is that younger girl will be bedridden for some time, probably for several weeks. Second: While closing wound I was noticing that body cells were not regenerating properly. Upon investigation I was realizing that an extremely rare bacteria had infected Lilo's wound. Bacteria that, on this planet, can only be found in experiment 6-2-7's blood."

"How could bacteria from 6-2-7's blood get into Lilo's wound? She wasn't anywhere near the little monster." asked Pleakley.

"Only guess is that somehow some of 6-2-7's blood got onto bounty hunters blade."

"So what does this mean? Is this bacteria dangerous?" asked Nani hurriedly.

Jumba shook his head. "Bacteria does not pose risk to younger girls life. It only means that wound will not heal completely; she will be left with rather ugly scar."

"Couldn't you fix the scar?" said Nani with a more curious tone.

"Once wound has closed evil genius could reduce the appearance of scar, but there is nothing that can get rid of it entirely."

"Can we see her?" asked Nani quietly.

"Younger girl is conscious, so yes. But I would recommend seeing her one at a time. We do not want to overwhelm her too mu…"

"Lilo!" Stitch suddenly yelled as he bolted past Nani and Jumba.

"…ch. Please to being quiet, 6-2-6!" Jumba yelled, though he knew it was no use. Just then Jumba noticed that Angel was sitting up against the back of the couch, holding her chest, breathing heavily, and trembling. "What is being wrong with 6-2-4?"

Nani looked over at the pink experiment. "She just got yelled at by Stitch," said Nani with a sympathetic tone, "and I mean really yelled at. I'm surprised you didn't hear it. Stitch was even about to hit her."

"What?" exclaimed Jumba in shock.

"Are you ok, Mom?" asked Oki as he sat next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

Angel was silent as she continued to hold her chest. Unbeknown to the rest of the family the same pain that she had felt earlier with 6-2-7 had returned, adding to her fear. But finally she managed to speak. "I'm… fine, thank you, Oki."

"Why is 6-2-4 holding chest? Should evil genius give you check up?"

Angel looked over at Jumba and shook her head. "It's nothing, I'm just a little shaken. I'll be fine in a little while."

Kina and Ashley crawled up onto the couch and sat down on the other side of their mother. Angel smiled as all three of her children wrapped their arms around her, but the pain remained. At that moment, upstairs, Stitch came to a stop in front of Jumba's door. With restrained excitement the blue experiment slowly opened the door and stepped inside. The room was dark, only the soft light from Jumba's computer and a few other pieces of equipment lit the room. Right away Stitch could make out Lilo's form lying on the lower bunk of Jumba and Pleakley's bed. She had numerous IV's attached to her arms and body as well as a few wires that lead to vital monitors. There was enough light in the room that Stitch could see that her eyes were closed. Part of him didn't want to wake her, he knew how much she needed the rest, but he just had to talk to her. Slowly and quietly he made his way over to the bed, making sure not to startle her.

Tears returned to his eyes as he looked at her peaceful face, he couldn't believe he came so close to losing her. He raised his paw toward her, ready to gently shake her awake, but he paused. Again he considered whether or not he should wake her, finally he laid his paw on her shoulder and shook her gently. Lilo let out a small yelp and winced, causing Stitch to leap back a little.

'Dammit, watch her shoulder!' Stitch thought to himself as he quickly remembered her wound.

Lilo's face soon relaxed as she opened her eyes, she stared at the bottom of the top bunk for a moment before rolling her head over toward Stitch. A small smile instantly crossed her face while her eyes seemed to light up, which made Stitch smile back.

"Hey there, Stitch." Lilo said rather quietly.

"Hey… Lilo." replied Stitch as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

"You look like you took a ride in a wood chipper." the young girl laughed as she noticed the multiple bandages on her friend.

"You don't… look so hot either." smiled Stitch, hoping he wouldn't upset her or freak her out.

To his relief the girl just laughed and glanced down at the bandages that were wrapped around her chest. "I know, I look like a half-done mummy right now. I feel like one too." Lilo gave a sigh and looked back at the bottom of the top bunk. "I can't believe I let that bastard get such a good shot on me, I really sucked!"

"Just be thankful you're alive," blurted Stitch, "I know I am. You don't need to worry about how you did out there. You're alive and you beat him, that's all that matters."

"No, I could have done better. I let myself get too scared." the girl said as she closed her eyes, lifted her head and repeatedly hit it into the pillow. "I'm so stupid, stupid!"

"Will you quit," shouted Stitch, "it was your first time in a fight, you did perfectly fine! Stop criticizing yourself."

"Perfectly fine isn't good enough." mumbled Lilo as she opened her eyes again.

Stitch rolled his eyes and gave a frustrated sigh before the two of them feel into silence. Neither of them spoke for several moments before finally Lilo looked back at Stitch and said: "I take it that since you're here… you managed to rescue Angel?"

"Why would you even ask about her?" snapped Stitch with a small growl, "How could you still be concerned about her when she's the reason you're in this bed?"

"What," gasped Lilo in confusion, "what are you talking about? I'm concerned about her because she's ohana."

"Ohana? You still consider her ohana? Because of her you were practically cut in two! Members of an ohana don't do that to one another!"

"What's the matter with you? It's not like she was the one swinging the sword."

"No, but because she was too pathetic to defend herself you ended up fighting the guy that was! Now I know that deep down you blame her for this, even if you don't realize it right now! You know it's her fault, everyone knows it's her fault, and I told her that once you're strong again you'll realize that the best thing for this family is to kick her ass out the door! I let her know that we blame her for your condition." said Stitch finally catching his breath after all his yelling.

Lilo was dumbfounded, her jaw just hung there as she stared at the blue experiment. Finally, she slowly began to shake her head. "Don't tell me that the yelling that I heard… was you?"

Stitch was silent for a moment as he averted his eyes. He could already tell that he had done something that Lilo didn't like, but he still believed that Angel was to blame. "I had to tell her," Stitch snapped, "I had to force her to see that she was to blame! If I hadn't she would have just started thinking that we are here to serve her. She would have ignored the sacrifice you made to save her sorry little hide. She wouldn't have appreciated anything!"

"I don't believe you," shouted Lilo, raising her voice as high as she could, "how could you do something like that?"

"I had to tell her," barked Stitch, "I had to tell that bitch that she was the one that brought this on our family and that we…"

"Shut up, Stitch!" yelled Lilo, stopping Stitch mid-sentence. "If I could move my arms I'd slap the fur right off your face!"

Stitch's ears quickly fell to his shoulders as he averted his eyes once again. "How could you, Stitch? How could you yell at her like that, how could you blame her for something that she had no control over? I don't know what made you think she was to blame but none of this was her fault! It wasn't her fault that she got captured; it wasn't her fault that I got injured either!"

Lilo suddenly winced as she began to roll over on her side toward Stitch. The girl clenched her teeth from the pain as she propped herself up on her elbow. She finally managed to get into position and after a moment she looked back at Stitch, an angry glare in her eyes.

"You can't blame her, Stitch." scolded Lilo. "You say it was her fault that she got captured, but you have to remember that she doesn't have the strength you do. Even though she can fight pretty well… she is not a fighter, she's not meant to kick people's asses. That's why she needs you, you're her strength, her protector… her hero. Now I'm not saying it was your fault she got caught either, I'm just saying that you can't blame her for her own limitations."

"But, Lilo…" started Stitch before Lilo suddenly raised a finger.

"No, 'buts' Stitch. She is not to blame, especially not for my injuries. These wounds are a result of my own decisions, not hers. I chose to fight Tokajo, so if there is anyone you should be blaming it's me. I knew there was a chance that I would not win, that I wasn't strong enough to beat him and yet I refused your help. I put myself in a position to be hurt or even killed, me, not Angel."

"But if Angel had put up more of a fight when 6-2-7 grabbed her she might have bought more time for us! I could have rescued her before they got too far and I would've been able to help you!" defended Stitch.

"Do you really think her putting up more of a struggle would have done anything?" said Lilo before pausing and looking Stitch up and down, counting in her mind all the bandages on his body. "By the looks of you it took you awhile to subdue, 6-2-7. So I still would have gotten injured! Besides, she was in no position to put up a struggle, not only was she bound head to toe but she was also scared stiff! You could see it on her face clear as day, so I know you saw how scared she was."

"She… should have been tougher." said Stitch as his head fell.

"Not everyone can be as brave as you, Stitch."

"Still… you can't deny that if she hadn't come into our lives this would have never happened!" Stitch said as he raised his head again.

"Maybe, but can you really say that you'd prefer it that way? Would you really want her out of our lives? I don't think you would." Lilo's stern expression softened into a look of empathy. "Despite what your anger and sadness may have been telling you, deep down you don't want to blame her. It amazes me that you can't see that, and it amazes me more that you could bring yourself to lash out at her like that. The Stitch I heard down there wasn't the Stitch I know. How would you have felt if you were in her position? When 6-2-7 grabbed her she called out your name, she called for you and no one else. She wanted you to save her, and she was probably overjoyed when you showed up to rescue her. I can't imagine how happy she must have felt, how safe she must have felt to be back in your arms."

Stitch lowered his head again as a feeling of guilt suddenly began to push it's way past his stubborn anger. "Then when she finally thinks she's safe, when she feels most secure, you turn around and snap at her." Lilo continued as tears began to grow in Stitch's eyes. "Suddenly, her feeling of safety is out the window and that fear that you rescued her from… returns. Now I don't know how long you're going to continue to foolishly blame her for something she didn't do, but until you come to your senses and realize that she is not the enemy… I don't want to see you."

Stitch ears suddenly perked up as he raised his head, a confused look on his face. "What?" he asked with a small sniffle.

"You heard me, until you realize that Angel is not to blame, I don't want to see or hear you. Now please get out." commanded Lilo as she pointed at the door.

"But Lilo…" said Stitch with another sniffle.

"I said please get out, Stitch!" shouted Lilo before she laid back down and closed her eyes.

Without another word, and with tears continuing to fill his eyes Stitch slowly turned and walked out of the room. He stopped only once in the doorway to look back at his friend before gently closing the door behind him. A short while later Stitch had made his way outside and up to the hammock where he now sat with his legs tucked up against his chest on the edge of the platform. He had his nose buried in his arm, which were crossed over the top of his knees. A few tears had fallen from his eyes, leaving their dark trails down his cheeks. There were no longer any signs of the anger that had erupted from within him earlier, Lilo's words had vanquished that beast. But the small blue experiment was now left with a feeling of guilt and regret that felt as large as the ocean. With nothing but the soft island breeze and the stars to keep him company Stitch's mind was free to play through everything that had happened.

The look of fear on Angel's face as he yelled at her and Lilo's words were all he could think about. 'What happened to me,' Stitch thought to himself as he looked out over the island, 'why did I act that way? How could I have let myself snap like that? I thought I was beyond that… childish behavior.'

'Lilo was right, Angel was not to blame for any of this.' He continued to think as he now looked up toward the stars. 'Angel, I wouldn't be surprised if she's too scared to be around me now. God what have I done? If I can still bring myself to yell like that… if I can bring myself to nearly strike her… I don't deserve her.' Stitch gave a sniffle as tears once again began to well up in his eyes. The blue experiment quickly buried his face in his arms, trying hard not to cry. 'I don't deserve her love, the love that I probably just destroyed.'

Stitch wiped his eyes on his arms and the raised his head back up. 'I don't deserve any of this, not after today. Dammit, they probably think I'm a monster now. But who could blame them? Only a monster would yell and scream at his mate and then deck his own children. I'll probably be the one to get kicked out of the house now, there's no way Nani would risk me exploding like that again.'

'But it's not my fault! Watching my kids out-do me and nearly losing my closest friend drove me nuts! I couldn't have thought straight if I tried. But now because of that fact I may have shattered the trust of my only ohana.'

Stitch gave a heavy sigh and let his legs fall over the side of the platform. "God what have I done?" he asked himself as he held his paws tightly over his eyes.

Stitch became so focused on his thoughts that he did not hear the sound of soft footsteps coming up behind him. It was only when he felt a blanket being draped around his shoulders that he snapped back to reality. Slowly he removed his paws and looked up over his shoulder, to his surprise Angel was standing over him, adjusting the blanket so it would stay on his shoulders. The female experiment had a stoic look on her face as she finally sat down on her knees next to him. Stitch just stared at her; unsure of exactly what to say or even if he should say anything.

"I can't believe you still want to be near me. Or did someone send you out here?" Stitch finally said as he looked back out over the island.

"No one sent me out here, I just wanted to make sure you didn't get too cold." she said as she too stared out over the island.

Stitch smirked and gave a small laugh. "How can you still care about me after what I did? No one is that forgiving." Angel remained silent. "I see… it's not that you've forgiven me, you just don't want to make this hard on the family. You want to keep things the way they should be… it makes sense."

The two of them fell into silence as a cool breeze blew around them, causing Stitch to pull his blanket tighter around him. "This isn't about forgiveness, Stitch," Angel finally said as she looked over at Stitch, "because there is nothing to forgive."

"Are you crazy?" blurted Stitch as he looked over at her, "What do you mean there is nothing to forgive? Did you forget what just happened or something?"

"I did not forget, I just don't think you should be held responsible for your actions. Everyone else feels the same way, you were deeply upset by Lilo's condition and your emotions just got the better of you." said Angel as a sympathetic expression crossed her face.

"I was upset yes… but… that doesn't excuse my behavior," Stitch could feel a knot beginning to tighten in his stomach as he found himself looking right into Angel's beautiful, starlit eyes. "It doesn't matter what I was feeling at the time, I should have had better control of myself!"

"All things considered I'd say you controlled yourself very well. Think about it, with your strength you could have torn that house down if you wanted, you could have pulverized everything in it to dust. But instead you limited yourself to just using your voice."

"That was still too much," blurted Stitch as he felt his eyes growing watery, "I… I didn't…" Stitch paused, "I didn't want to yell at you! I didn't want to scare you the way I did, I… didn't want to hit you or Oki!"

Stitch couldn't hold it in any longer, in a flash tears began to pour from his eyes, staining his cheeks a dark blue. But just as quickly as he began to cry Angel turned and wrapped her arms tight around him. Without another thought Stitch leaned toward her and buried his face in her chest.

"I never wanted to scare you, Angel! And I didn't mean those things I said." Stitch cried as his tears fell into her lap.

"I know you didn't, Stitch." Angel said softly as she stroked the back of his head, a small smile on her face.

"And I never wanted to hit Oki, I never wanted to hit any of our kids, never." Stitch sobbed as he rubbed his face in Angel's soft fur.

"It's ok, Stitch, it's ok." said Angel with a small chuckle, "Look at me," Angel put her paws on Stitch's cheeks and pulled him away from her chest and looked him right in the eyes, "everything's ok, there's no need to worry. I know you didn't mean to do any of that stuff. To be honest, if I had been in your position… I'd probably act almost the same way."

Stitch was silent for a moment as the two of them continued to stare deeply into one another's eyes. "Do… you still love me?" asked Stitch quietly with tears still running from his eyes.

"I'll always love you, no matter what may happen." said Angel as she leaned in and pressed her lips to his.

The two of them continued to kiss as Angel took the blanket and wrapped herself in it along with Stitch. She smiled as she raised her paw to her chest; the pain was fading with each passionate kiss. At that same moment, back down in the house, Nani was walking back into the living room after having visited with her sister.

"I feel like a weight has been lifted my chest," sighed Nani as she leaned against a wall, "it's such a relief to know she is alright."

"I am being grateful for evil genius brain that is for sure." said Jumba as he sat in a chair rubbing his head.

"I never thought I'd say this, but I'm grateful for it too." said Pleakley.

"What a day, I won't have any trouble sleeping tonight, that's for sure." moaned Nani as she rubbed her sore eyes.

"I wonder if Mom and Dad will have any trouble sleeping?" wondered Kina as he lay on the floor staring at the ceiling.

"I would not be worrying little fuzzy head," blurted Jumba with an oddly upbeat tone, "6-2-4 went to go talk with 6-2-6 little bit ago. I am being positive that they will straighten things out."

"Well that's good, we don't need any more tension in this house." said Nani as she pushed off the wall. "And this leaves only one remaining problem."

"What's that?" asked Pleakley.

"What are we going to do about the bounty hunter impaled on the spike in our driveway?" exclaimed Nani as she walked over and opened the front door. "We don't need the mailman seeing that tomorrow morning! God knows what kind of problems that would cause."

"Well I do not know exactly what to do," said Jumba as he got up out of his chair, "but for time being we could put body in ship."

"Um… that won't be necessary." said Nani as she looked down onto the driveway.

"What, why not?" asked Jumba curiously.

"Because he's gone." the older girl replied.

"What?" shouted Jumba and Pleakley in unison.

"That is being impossible! He was dead when I checked him, so he could not have been getting up and walking away by himself." said Jumba as he ran over next to Nani.

But sure enough as the evil scientist looked down onto the driveway all he could see was a large, bloodstained spike. "Then do you mind telling me where he went?" asked Nani with a condescending tone.

**Well that's the end of this chapter and this story! That's right I'm leaving you with a cliffhanger! Was Tokajo still alive or did someone take him? You'll have to wait to find out. And it'll be a bit of a wait, sorry. The next story I post will be the final story in the "Tejina Chronicle's" series, where the winner of the experiment's tournament will be revealed! So keep your eyes open.**


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